Presenting
Alt.religion.scientology Week in Review

Volume 10, Issue 15 - April 15 2006


Autism untreated in Scientology

On April 11, 2006 Hollywood Interrupted reported:

[long link]

A PLEA FROM HOLLYWOOD: JOHN TRAVOLTA OPEN YOUR HEART!

On Friday, April 7th, Hollywood, Interrupted was treated to the Los Angeles premiere of Normal People Scare Me" a feature-length documentary about autism, co-directed by the high functioning autistic teenager Taylor Cross and his mother, Keri Bowers. The event was sponsored by an organization called Cure Autism Now (CAN) and the new magazine, The Autism Perspective (TAP).

[...]

Joey’s brother and sister-in-law, Battlefield Earth co-stars John Travolta and his wife Kelly Preston, were not present. Too bad Had John and Kelly been at the screening, they might have a better understanding of the disorder reportedly affecting their 14 year-old son, Jett. Sadly, the Scientology couple cannot even publicly admit that their son is afflicted with a neurological disorder, lest according to the incontrovertible doctrine of Scientology founder L Ron Hubbard he be labeled a "degraded being" that brought his affliction onto himself. Instead, the Travoltas have long blamed their son’s disability on Kawasaki Syndrome-related environmental toxins, specifically carpet cleaning chemicals.

[...]

Scientology will not even recognize the disability, let alone the myriad therapies for treating it.

The CAN and ASA officials that spoke with Hollywood, Interrupted credited Sylvester Stallone and former pro football greats Doug Flutie and Dan Marino as celebrity parents of children with autism that have helped raise awareness of the malady. These celebs reportedly share their frustration with what they perceive as Travolta’s denial stemming from Scientology’s rabid hatred of psychiatry and judgment of those with psychological problems as lesser humans responsible for their own maladies.

The Hollywood actor interviewed describes having autism as like being trapped within yourself, and having difficulty letting normal people know who you really are. Now, imagine being trapped inside a mind-control cult that prohibits you from availing your child to the treatment available. No wonder Scientology has long been plagued by suicides, and wrongful deaths.

The movie producer that spoke with Hollywood, Interrupted reports: Kelly Preston, in her heart, wants to do the right thing for her son. "I bet it rips her heart out," says the actor. "But," says the producer, "John Travolta has so far, done nothing to help raise awareness about autism."

Tragically, Scientology does nasty things to the heart. "And to the other families who are being torn apart by this disorder," sighs the actor. "Let me know if I can help you appeal to his heart." Hollywood, Interrupted believes that you may have done just that.

Posted by Mark Ebner at 6:00 AM

--

"Jeff Jacobsen" posted:

[long link]

Random people everywhere seem to know about xenu.net,lisamcpherson.org, and the many other sites, and the information found there. Not only have people heard about the controversy concerning Scientology, they've investigated as well!

--

"Tardis Box" posted:

The Travoltas have said Jett suffers from Kawasaki syndrome"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kawasaki_syndrome

Others suspect Jett may suffer from something more serious - autism."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autism

http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/408186p-345417c.html

Travolta son's diagnosis: Science vs. Scientology?
Published on April 12, 2006

John Travolta and Kelly Preston are raising their son, Jett, as a good Scientologist, but some wonder if the 14-year-old is the worse for it.

The Travoltas have said Jett suffers from Kawasaki syndrome, an illness characterized by high fever, painful rash and lymph-node swelling. Preston has said they've traced the disability to "environmental toxins," specifically carpet-cleaning chemicals.

Three years ago, she told Montel Williams how she put Jett on a detox regimen based on the writings of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. Within a few months, she said, "He ended up getting better," but still "has lots of allergies."

Others suspect Jett may suffer from something more serious - autism.

According to HollywoodInterrupted.com's Mark Ebner, that diagnosis has been corroborated by "no less than five sources (including a media rep from the Autism Society of America, an executive from Cure Autism Now, a major Hollywood producer and parent of an autistic child, and a Hollywood actor-parent)." Officials at two autism groups declined to discuss Jett's condition when we called yesterday.

If Jett is autistic, CultNews.com's Rick Ross suggests, Travolta and Preston may not have sought treatment because Jett "would have go to psychiatrists, and that would be contrary to the teachings of Hubbard." As it happens, Travolta's brother, Joey, has produced a new documentary about autism, "Normal People Scare Me," co-directed by high-functioning autistic teenager Taylor Cross and his mother, Keri Bowers.

Joey, a former special-ed teacher, initially agreed to talk to us, but didn't return calls by deadline. Nor did reps for Travolta or the Church of Scientology.

[...]

From:

http://kidshealth.org/parent/medical/heart/kawasaki.html

Diagnosing Kawasaki Disease

There is no one test to detect Kawasaki disease, so a doctor typically diagnoses it by evaluating the child's symptoms and ruling out other conditions."

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Scientology Loses Popularity Poll

The following are some comments about a "CBS News public opinion survey" about religions from 13-14 April 2006 in which Scientology placed last.

-

click and scroll down to see how Scientology rated in CBS poll:

[long link]

-

Yes. Scientololgy preys off that 40% that does not know. Of the people that know what Scientology is, 8% is favorable and 52% is unfavorable. Imagine that, a money motivated cult has an 8% approval rating.

-

Its amazing that a religion with only ~55,000 adherents could even manage to become noticeable to almost 60% of the nation. They really had to abuse a lot of people and break a lot of laws to get this noticed.

And out of those people that have heard about Scientology 87% have an unfavorable opinion of it.

[...]

-

It was a random telephone survey.

"This poll was conducted among a nationwide random sample of 899 adults, interviewed by telephone April 6-9, 2006. The error due to sampling for results based on the entire sample could be plus or minus three percentage points. Error for subgroups may be higher."

[...]

Critics need to keep up the good work to inform the 8% (±3% or more error) that indeed Scientology's business is not really about helping drug addict or about improving learning abilities of children, but to rake in money through deceit.

-

Interesting, considerably more people thought more favorably of Islam than they did of Scientology.

And at only an 8% favorable rating, Scientology has a severe PR problem, and they had better hire an outside PR firm, because it is obvious L. Ron Hubbard and/or David Miscavige do not have a clue about the subject.

-

Most interesting is the fact that from the polled religions (or scam, in scientology case), our petscam has the wors[t] number[s].

-

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Battle Creek Michigan Speaks Out

On April 10, 2006 the Michigan Battle Creek Enquirer reported:

[long link]

Your Opinions

Do research before deciding on 'church'

I have been watching, with interest and trepidation, as the "Church" of Scientology has moved into our community. They have purchased several properties, shown up at community events offering free "stress tests," and given away free literature.

I became interested in the group after receiving a letter at my local church from the former mayor of Clearwater, Fla., outlining the history and tactics of Scientologists in his city.

[...]

Time Magazine, May 1991, "Scientology - Cult of Greed and Power - Ruined lives. Lost fortunes. Federal Crimes. Scientology poses as a religion but really is a ruthless global scam - and aiming for the mainstream." (Also read about how the author of this article was harassed.)

Christianity Today, September 2000, "Building Scientopolis - How Scientology remade Clearwater, Florida, and what local Christians learned in the process."

Rolling Stone, February 2006, "Inside Scientology - Unlocking the complex code of America's most mysterious religion." This is just a sample of what's out there. I don't pass on this info lightly, as Scientology has a reputation of harassment of those who speak against them. So be it. I'm all for an exchange of ideas and religious freedom, but not content to sit back and say nothing while good people seeking something better are taken in.

Deborah Riska
[Battle Creek]

Message ID: tmqk329nve9o4s9jv7qq91t8v2e8b4t1tj@4ax.com


Declaration of Gerry Armstrong

On April 10, 2006 "Gerry Armstrong" posted:

[Harassment, threat and defamation from [e-mail address] ("Llewellyn Williams ( Bill ) Hughes III")]

Declaration of Gerry Armstrong

I, Gerry Armstrong declare:

1. I am the target of a series of threatening, harassive and libelous e-mails and Usenet posts made by Cox Net customer "[e-mail address]" in violation of Cox's Acceptable Use Policy.

2. On April 6, "Mr. Hughes" sent me an e-mail message at gerry@gerryarmstrong.org with subject line "Hey goatfucker," which he also posted to the newsgroup alt.binaries.pictures.drag-racing, falsely accusing me of being the source of an apparent earlier post to newsgroup, and giving my street address and phone number. (A. and Aa. below) He also addressed the message to gerryarmstrong@shaw.ca and garmstrong@shaw.ca. It is clear to me that "Mr. Hughes" is claiming a prior knowledge of me and hate for me as "Gerry Armstrong."

3. I responded by e-mail to "Mr. Hughes," advising him that I was the Gerry Armstrong he was targeting and that he was falsely accusing me. (B. below) I have never to my knowledge had any interaction with "Mr. Hughes" before he e-mailed me on April 6, nor was I aware of his existence before then.

4. "Mr. Hughes" sent me a second e-mail message, still essentially falsely accusing me, further accusing me of trying to fool people into thinking I don't live at my current address in Chilliwack, BC., Canada, implying something nefarious about my mail server being in Germany, and asserting that NNTP No. 24.67.253.205 is me. (C. below) In fact, that NNTP is a static number for numerous shaw.ca news subscribers.

5. I responded by e-mail to "Mr. Hughes," explaining that I was not trying to fool anyone, and that he was making a fool of himself for falsely accusing me and not explaining why. I asked him if he was a Scientologist, or whether it was his job to falsely accuse people or commit other crimes for the cult, or why he was targeting me. (D. below)

6. I am a target of the Scientology organization, which uses private investigators and intelligence professionals, including computer experts against its targets. Obviously I have a very known Internet identity, and use the Internet in my work, writing and communicating. It is not inconceivable that "Mr. Hughes" is part of a Scientology operation, wittingly or unwittingly. Scientology uses gullible, vulnerable, deranged and sociopathic individuals in its war campaigns against people it targets as "enemies," like me. I have sometimes found it safest and wisest to express my suspicion that someone approaching me, especially, as with "Mr. Hughes," someone attacking me out of the blue, might be connected to or operated by, the Scientology organization. His garbage about me in his first e-mail message, that I am a "habitual lying coward" and "a total loser," are very usual black propaganda disseminated by Scientology's leaders and covert agents about me. Scientology agents have physically assaulted me on multiple occasions, a Scientology private investigator in southern California threatened to put a bullet between my eyes, in 2005 a Scientologist posting anonymously incited deranged people to get a gun and shoot me, and less than a month ago another Scientologist posting from a Shaw account threatened to shoot my wife.

7. "Mr. Hughes" sent me a third e-mail message, vulgarly, again implying that by having a German mail server I was trying to fool people, and conceiting himself for not being snowed by me. (E. below) He also commanded me to use some e-mail account with Shaw Internet and not use the one I have used openly and publicly for over three years, gerry@gerryarmstrong.org.

[...]

22. "Mr. Hughes" is clearly falsely accusing me and appears to be doing so willfully. He either has, or is pretending to have, a level of computer and Internet knowledge far beyond mine. What I know, with my more modest computer and Internet understanding, is that he is lying, and I did not do whatever he is falsely accusing me of doing. He is acting menacingly and is either mental or is appearing mental deliberately to make himself menacing. He appears, from a quick review of a few of his Usenet posts, to be a gun "enthusiast" or nut, who boasts of keeping loaded guns racked in his home.

23. I request that you do whatever is within your power to talk some sense into "Mr. Hughes" and to prevent him from further defaming, harassing or threatening me, my wife, and others.

I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of California, the United States and Canada that the foregoing is true and correct.

Executed this 10th day of April 2006 in Chilliwack, B.C., Canada.

Gerry Armstrong
[address, phone number]

[...]

Message ID # pg5m3296l65pqpegibl1lem7uanhblth3u@4ax.com


L.A. Times Reporter promotes Cult Apologist

On April 13, 2006 Cult News reported:

According to Los Angeles Times staff writer Louis Sahagun, J. Gordon Melton is eternally curious, has an encyclopedic mind and is one of the nation’s foremost authorities on religion. Scientology, which has recommended Melton as a religious resource, would certainly endorse the reporter’s view.

[...]

But don’t expect to find weighty research within his creation, at least not anything that the groups listed don’t want the general public to know.

There seems to be something like a quid pro quo understanding between Melton and groups frequently called cults, which is essentially that he won’t write up anything they don’t like.

For example, you won’t find out about the Scientology belief in space aliens and how that’s linked to pesky little critters the controversial church calls body thetans, because Melton’s encyclopedic mind doesn’t allow such information to leak out, at least not to the public.

Note this short study by Melton about Scientology. He doesn’t even mention the mythical Xenu, who 75 million years ago sent billions of beings to earth that still haunt us.

Melton could easily add a page or two about the legendary galactic overlord within his 1,250-page book, but Scientology wouldn’t like that.

Maybe it’s cost and/or the questionable quality of his research that makes the ranking of his book so low at Amazon.com. Melton’s encyclopedia has at times been listed below 500,000, though the LA Times article gave it a bump up recently.

Melton is not known for meaningful analysis about what he calls new religions. The itinerant academic doesn’t appear all that curious when it comes to the darker side of groups more commonly called "cults."

[...]

--

"Tilman Hausherr" posted:

We knew that already. What I hadn't seen before is this document: http://www.rickross.com/reference/apologist/apologist56.html

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Tom Cruise advertising Scientology

On April 11, 2006 Contactmusic reported:

[long link]

TOM CRUISE is attacking those who prescribe psychiatric drugs again in he May (06) issue of men's style magazine GQ. The actor, who embarked on an anti-drug tirade in TV interviews last summer (05) on behalf of his Scientology beliefs, has launched a fresh attack on psychiatry, calling for prescription pill poppers to think carefully about the harms they're doing to their bodies. He tells the magazine, "I've always found the 'if it makes me feel better, it's OK' rationale a little suspect. "I think it's appalling that people have to live a life of drug addiction when I have personally helped people get off drugs." In the interview, the actor claims he can get someone off heroin in three days through Scientology's detox programmes.

--

From RightNation.US:

http://www.rightnation.us/forums/index.php?showtopic=101151

So scientology can get someone off heroin in three days Tom? Scientology has done nothing to cure the mental disease you are suffering from, so why should we believe it could cure heroin addiction.

I'm tired of this whack job promoting his cult.

--

From the Deliriously Normal blog:

Scientology's Achilles Heel

Tom Cruise is up to his couch-jumping antics again in the May issue of GQ magazine. [...] [Cruise']s self-proclaimed 'intensive study' of the field of mental health no doubt relates to his obsessive absorbtion of the writings of L. Ron Hubbard. Hubbard himself has been proven to have been a compulsive liar, drug addict, and fraud, even commenting at one point in his life that 'the best way to get rich is to invent a religion.'

Who do I believe? Modern medical science, or L. Ron Hubbard? Hmm.

--

From the ATL malcontent blog:

http://atlmalcontent.blogspot.com/2006/04/i-can-get-you-off-heroin-in-three-days.html

I can get you off heroin in three days!

"I think it's appalling that people have to live a life of drug addiction when I have personally helped people get off drugs."

--Renaissance nut Tom Cruise, who claims Scientology's detox program can cure addicts in 72 hours. Cruise declined comment when asked how long it takes for Scientology to "cure" homosexuals.

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Bookselling and Recruitment

On April 12, 2006 the Los Angeles Alternative reported:

http://www.laalternative.com/index.php/2006/04/07/sidewalk-salvation/

Stressed?

Our intrepid reporter braves Hollywood Blvd.'s Scientology sales reps.

by Rob B. Dulhar [*Names have been changed to protect the universe.]

I've been known to roll the odd, invisible hand grenade through the open doors of the Scientology Personality Testing Center. You've seen m out there on Hollywood Boulevard., those front-line pawns of the Scientology machine, and if you're anything like me, you usually just keep right on walking. They inquire if you want a "free stress test" and you mumble, "no thanks," avoiding eye contact.

But, as a service to you, dear L.A. Alternative readers, the paper sent me out on a bright, crisp Saturday afternoon to subject myself to the stress test. Could I be convinced to join the flock? What exactly did this "test" involve?

I had to pass by the card tables set up on the south side of the Boulevard twice before a heavy-set girl in a folding chair inquired if I wanted a "free stress test." She may have actually been speaking to the man walking behind me, but I don't think he spoke any English. I leapt into the chair in front of the pimply-faced, 20-something Lindsay* and introduced myself.

The girl immediately hands me two short, coppery cylinders (one of them s labeled "Chris"-I guess she was borrowing someone else's E-Meter). The metal tubes are attached to a small box with a needle, a few knobs and-the only element that seemed to be connected to "reality"-a digital clock. It almost has the correct time.

Lindsay tells me that this low-tech looking doohickey will register how much stress I am currently feeling (it's really just a biofeedback machine-it measures the conductivity of your skin, which can sometimes be affected by your emotional state if you're the perspiring type). I'm told that she's going to ask me a few questions as I grip the handles and that I "can answer them in my head." When I ask if I can answer them aloud, she says in my head will be fine.

Lindsay says the needle will move to the right indicating how much stress I am exhibiting in regards to the subjects she is going to bring up. She starts to ask me a series of rather open-ended questions about my romantic relationships, my family and my pet. I answer them aloud and she doesn't stop me.

Now, I am sort of expecting Lindsay to be a bit devious, to trick me into believing that I'm stressed over something that Scientology could help me with. She asks me what is currently causing me stress; I mention something about my sex life and my financial situation. She doesn't touch the latter and whispers with embarrassment in regards to the former.

By now, she has me talking about my job and my older brother in Brooklyn and my cat, and all the while I'm keeping my eye on the monitor-the needle is not even wiggling. Check me out! Stress-free!

When she starts asking me about children, I inform Lindsay that I don't have any and that I don't really want any. She asks if that's all right with my family and I tell her, with 100 percent honesty, that my mother has dreams of me furnishing her with two grandchildren. Now, at this point I had taken my eyes off the needles; I was rather obviously checking out the gorgeous young woman dressed in a skimpy Tinkerbelle costume who was walking right toward me.

That might have factored into the needle finally leaping a bit.

Lindsay proudly informs me that I am stressed over this situation with my mother. I respond that maybe my Mom is stressed-but I am not. I tell her that if I should happen to call my Jewish mother back East and inform her that I just became a Scientologist in order to deal with the stress she was allegedly causing me with her desire for me to be fruitful and multiply, I would win the Jew-guilt stand-off hands down.

[...]

She then grabs a paperback edition of L. Ron Hubbard's most famous sci-fi tome and asks me if I've read it. I tell Lindsay that "I've never read Diuretics." (Thank you, Alex Cox.) She does not correct me, but only flips it open to the first page and hands it to me. She instructs me to read a quote from noted big-headed thespian and famed Scientologist, Vinny Barbarino.

And now, for the low, low price of only eight dollars I can own my own copy. I understand why she didn't wish to discuss my financial woes earlier. And then it hits me-this whole thing is probably just a protracted sales pitch for this book. No wonder it's sold tens of millions of copies. They've got these poor kids out on the streets all over town, in a strange sort of grass roots promotion. (Hmm... I'm looking to publish a book this year. Maybe I'll take a page out of Dianetics-I think it's page 143-to promote myself.)

Sales pitch effectively rejected, I ask Lindsay how long she's been doing this. She tells me with great pride that she's been in the LRH fold since January 28. I can envision the date circled on her "cute kittens" calendar with pink magic marker. She had taken the same free stress test in her hometown of "beautiful, downtown Burbank" and tells me that "the rest is history."

But she really can't tell me why I should read and/or buy this book.Even the Christians will give you their Bible for free. If Lindsay is any indicator of who is on the front lines of selling this religion to the masses, I just don't know what to think of this organization. The Taliban do a better job of selling the tenets of Islam than this girl does for Scientology.

I decide to let Lindsay off the hook, thank her, shake her hand and walk off down Hollywood Boulevard. feeling remarkably stress free-except maybe for the sex bit. LAA

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Scientology-related Video

"Mark Bunker" posted:

I've converted many more of my videos to GOOGLE Video. If you haven't watched this year, here is a vintage interview with Gabe Cazares and Wayne Shelor from 1983:

http://www.xenutv.com/panels/gabe-heritage.htm

--

"David Wong" posted:

This is the best Xenu video I have seen yet. Hubbard's own voice explains the "tech" of alien implanting. Watch it before scientology tries to censor it for "copyright infringement".

Part 1

[long link]

Part 2

[long link]

--

"Jeff Jacobsen" posted:

[What is Scientology spying on?]

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8369763773249709507&q=scientology&pl=true

Mark put up this video I made in about 2000.

Some Pictures:

"Android Cat" posted

[See Xenu's minions carry frozen thetans onto space-planes!]

See alt.binaries.scientology or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenu#The_influence_of_OT_III_on_Scientology
(click on the picture to see it full-sized).

It's the 1972 cover of Dianetics: The Evolution of a Science, wheeee!

--

"Andreas Heldal-Lund" posted:

Enjoy cover image of Xemu on Fantastic Four comic magazine from the seventies:

http://www.xenu.net/images/fantastic_four.png

--

"Heffer" posted:

Couldn't resist...

The newest Scientology Meter:

http://www.geekologie.com/2006/03/build_your_own_lie_detector.html

Build Your Own Lie Detector

Did a secret government agency really force your roommate to sleep with your girlfriend, or has he been lying all along? Why not find out by building yourself a quick a simple lie detector test? Using the Lego Mindstorm kit, velcro, and tinfoil, you can construct a Galvanic Skin Response sensor that determines the amount of sweat on your skin at any given time. The theory is that when someone tells a lie, or is under any stress, they sweat more than when they are truthful and calm. Simply slap one of these together, heed the brief warning about sudden and violent death by electrocution, and you can be well on your way to stripping away all the lies on which your relationships are firmly based.

--

[Son of Xenu]

http://sonofxenu.ytmnd.com/ [video file]

Give it a few seconds to load the animation

more Xenu at

http://www.ytmnd.com/list/?PHPSESSID=5443e6697f16420c22a17cab25aa92e3&search=xenu

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Christening a Catholic Scientologist Baby-to-be

The article "Cruise: Baby Won't Have Catholic Baptism" from the Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/13/AR2006041301593_pf.html

about Tom Cruise and Diane Sawyer on ABC's "Primetime" spawned several threads of discussion on the news group this past week. Three of these threads follow.

From "Cruise: Baby Won't Have Catholic Baptism" By The Associated Press, April 13, 2006; 7:41 PM:

"-- Katie Holmes was raised a Catholic, but, says fiancé Tom Cruise, their soon-to-arrive baby will not have a Catholic baptism.

'No,' Cruise tells Diane Sawyer in an interview on ABC's 'Primetime,' airing Friday, 9 p.m. EDT. 'No, I mean you can be Catholic and be a Scientologist.'"

To this point Dave Touretzky responded:

"Being a 'Catholic Scientologist' is like being a 'Catholic Satanist': you can string the words together, but they don't make sense.

Scientologists are reasonably up-front about their belief in past lives and reincarnation, even if they do clam up when the talk turns to space aliens.

Reincarnation is heresy as far as Catholics and most other Christian denominations are concerned. Jesus said you have but one life on this earth, and then, you wait for the resurrection. [...]"

and

"I don't think the interview went that well for Cruise. He was evasive on a variety of points. For example, Sawyer asked him if Scientology had prayers and hymns, and he didn't really answer.

He flat-outlied when he said you can be Catholic and a Scientologist. As I pointed out previously, reincarnation is considered heresy by the Catholic Church. (The fact that some early Christian sects embraced reincarnation is irrelevant. Modern Catholicism flatly rejects it.)"

From "Cruise: Baby Won't Have Catholic Baptism" (continued)

"The superstar dad-to-be also confirms to Sawyer that Holmes, in the final stages of her pregnancy with the couple's first child, will adhere to Scientology's practice of quiet birth. Cruise explains that 'quiet birth,' which aims to minimize talk and other noise inside the delivery room,' is 'basically just respecting the mother.'"

On the respect Scientology pays a mother on the birth of her baby, "Android Cat" posted "Scientology mothers have no name?" on April 14, 2006:

"I was just reviewing the original version of Hubbard's christening service, and I noticed that while the father and the godparents have fill-in-the-blanks for name, the mother doesn't.

Could someone check the handbook that they sell to their (one week course) ministers to see if that's been changed in the current version?

'As an example, an informal christening service Hubbard performed in 1957 is reprinted. Addressing himself to the babe, he introduced the parents and designated godparents to those gathered. Then, still addressing the child, he continued: "How are you? All right. Now your name is ______. You got that? Good. There you are. Did that upset you? Now, do you realize that you're a member of HASI? Pretty good, huh? All right. Now I want to introduce you to your father. This is Mr. _____. (To the parent): Come over here. (To the child): And here's your mother. And now, in case you get into trouble and want to borrow some quarters here's Mr. _____. See him? He's your godfather. Now, take a look at him. That's right. And here's _____, in case you want some real good auditing; she's your godmother. Got it? Now you are suitably christened. ...'"

On the use of the word "christened" "Hartley Patterson" posted on April 15, 2006:

"... I have a word clearing problem with 'christening' by non-Christians. ..."

Still more from: "Cruise: Baby Won't Have Catholic Baptism" (continued)

"As the baby's birth approaches, Cruise says 'it feels a little unreal.'

Cruise said last week that he and Holmes plan to wed in the coming months. They have been engaged since June."

-

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Unscary Movie

"cultxpt" posted "Scary Movie 4; forget it" April 14, 2006:

I went to Scary Movie 4 because it spoofs War of the Worlds and Tom Cruise's couch jumping. But it was just a dumb movie.

Mark Bunker posted:

I agree. It was a big disappointment. Scary Movie 3 had some amusing bits and I really loved Anna Faris in that film, so I went to number 4 and barely cracked a smile. [...]

Message-ID: 1145068912.774057.117660@v46g2000cwv.googlegroups.com
Message-ID: 8G_%f.605$zf6.351@fed1read08


Narconon is not Narcotics Anonymous

"Simkatu" posted "My recent letter to the South Bend Tribune about Narconon" on April 14, 2006

Every time a journalists slips and confuses Narconon for Narcotics Anonymous I have been taking the time to send them a letter explaining their error. As more and more journalists become informed about this issue, it is less and less likely that they will mess up again.

Here is a copy of my recent letter to the South Bend Tribune.

[...]

There are a couple of excellent web pages that demonstrate why Narconon should be avoided:

http://Narconon-exposed.org

and

http://stop-narconon.org

You are not the first journalist that was likely confused by Narconon's name. Many people think Narconon is the same as Narcotics Anonymous (NA), which runs the familiar 12-step programs that offer free meetings many times a week in most major cities. However, this is part of the reason that the Church of Scientology chose the name Narconon to begin with. They invite confusion in order to dupe people out of huge amounts of money, which are then passed "uplines" into other branches of the Church of Scientology through a complicated set of licensing agreements for the Narconon trademarks and other Scientology owned intellectual property.

[...]

Message-ID: 1145055263.184450.96470@i40g2000cwc.googlegroups.com


Narconon charged in Russia

On April 10, 2006 "Roger Gonnet" posted:

Criminal charges against Narconon in Krasnodar Krai
March 23, 2006

In the opinion of the police the drug addiction rehabilitation center has been involved in illegal business operations. This was announced today by the deputy chief of the Main Investigative Administration of Krai Internal Affairs, Valentin Simonov, "During the course of the investigation it was established that the foundation is involved in educational and medical activities. These require the proper licenses, but it was established that Narconon had no licenses."

According to the findings of educational experts, Narconon engaged in training and even issued certificates, but did not have licenses to do so. Narconon also rendered medical services and provided patients with psychotherapy. The police are now awaiting results from medical experts.

Message ID: 443a2990$0$2653$636a55ce@news.free.fr


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