Volume 0, Issue 24 vom 01. 10. 1995
Alt.religion.scientology Week in Review
Volume 0, Issue 24
10/01/95
by Rod Keller [rkeller@netaxs.com]
copyright 1995
Contents
- Bonnie Woods
- Capricorn Speaks
- Judge Kane Decision
- Dennis Erlich Ruling
- Netherlands Uproar
- Fishman/Geertz
- Der Spiegel
- Doomsday Cult
- Role of Earth
- The Occult
- Unpaid Taxes
- Blue Sky
- Child Dianetics
Alt.religion.scientology Week in Review summarizes the most significant
postings from the Usenet group Alt.religion.scientology for the preceding
week for the benefit of those who can't follow the group as closely as
they'd like. Out of thousands of postings, I attempt to include news of
significant events, new affidavits, court rulings, new contributors,
whatever. I hope you find it useful. Like many readers of a.r.s, I have a
kill file. So please take into consideration that I may not have seen some
of the most significant postings.
The articles in A.r.s Week in Review are brief summaries of the articles.
Many include an excerpt, and all include message IDs for the articles I
cover. This may or may not be useful to you, depending on how long your
site stores articles in the newsgroup before expiring them.
Free A.r.s Week in Review subscriptions are available, just email me at
rkeller@netaxs.com
It is archived at:
http://remarkable.amazing.com/scientology
http://users.aimnet.com/~jdiver
http://www.thur.de/religio/publik/arsfaq.html
http://wpxx02.toxi.uni-wuerzburg.de/~krasel/CoS/ars-summary.html
#####
Bonnie Woods
Steve A (aka "Mr. Castle") posted this week with an update on UK activist
Bonnie Woods. The cos is attempting to remove Bonnie's right to sue for
libel by bankrupting her.
"In an attempt to prevent Bonnie Woods from bringing a libel action
against Scientology for statements made in public about her, Scientology's
agent in the UK, solicitor Peter Hodkin, succeeded in tracing a creditor
to whom the Woods owed 23000 + interest (accruing to a total of 36000)
relating to an interest in a property jointly owned by Richard and Bonnie
Woods. He is now representing this creditor against Bonnie.
"Bonnie Woods' solicitor, who was representing her without charge, as she
has been denied legal aid, was also a victim of harassment by the cult,
with the result that she has now decided to discontinue her representation
of Bonnie, with the result that Bonnie is now left without any legal
representation at all.
"If Bonnie loses her bankruptcy case, she will not be eligible to continue
with her libel action against the cult, and they will have succeeded yet
again in perverting the UK legal system to their own ends."
Message-ID: <44eing$5o@castlsys.demon.co.uk>
#####
Capricorn Speaks
The anonymous poster Capricorn posted his/her third message this week.
The first two messages provoked a response from the cos, who accused
Vaughn Young of being Capricorn. It seems unlikely. Here are some
excerpts.
"You might like to know that there is considerable difficulty inside the
RTC/OSA because for the first time in the history of Scientology, a
portion of The Bridge has been lost to the public domain. The problem for
the RTC/OSA is that this came as a direct result of the strategy to go
after ARS, which was based on orders from David Miscavige and he won't
take the blame for what may be the most serious problem in the history of
Scientology - losing part of The Bridge.
"Because Miscavige cannot allow blame of himself, a scapegoat has to be
found for this disaster, while emergency measures are taken to stop it and
revert it. And it appears that it will be Kurt Weiland. Don't be surprised
if he has to get some 'spiritual enhancement' and disappears (to the
Freewinds boat, so he cannot leave.) His qualifications for being the
scapegoat for Miscavige's blunder are (1) he is former Guardian's Office
and Miscavige blames the GO for all of his ills, (2) he was the Commanding
Officer of the OSA International at the time when the handle-ARS strategy
was implemented, and thus to blame, and (3) he was also the head of the
OSA when the Germany campaign was initiated and since that is going bad
(especially now with an interview reportedly with the Youngs in Der
Speigel), he can be blamed for the worsening situation there too. Plus the
Dutch have now blown up so that can be put on Weiland too. Mike Rinder
(now running the OSA) and McShane (head of the RTC) are also in the wings
in case more need to be sacrificed. (McShane would go first. After all, he
was the one who gave up OT3 in the court case. Unfortunately, he didn't
get the okay in writing. Tch tch, Warren.)"
Message-ID: <449b25$ocv@utopia.hacktic.nl>
#####
Judge Kane Decision
The text of Judge Kane's September 12th ruling in the case of RTC vs.
FACTNet was posted this week. Here are some excerpts.
"No evidence was introduced showing a likelihood that a follower of the
Church would consider the postings by Lerma as a market substitute for the
Works. Nor did the evidence show that the postings were of a commercial
nature or had any effect on the potential market for the works. As such,
the posting may well be considered as having been made for the purpose of
criticism, comment or research falling within the fair use doctrine.
"Despite RTC and the Church's elaborate and ardent measures to maintain
the secrecy of the Works, they have come into the public domain by
numerous means. RTC's assertion that the only way in which the materials
have escaped its control was through two thefts in Denmark and England was
not supported by the evidence. A former senior Scientology official
testified to ongoing difficulties the Church incurred in keeping the Works
secret, including members losing materials in their possession. The
evidence also showed portions of the Works have been made available on the
Internet through persons other than Lerma, with the potential for
downloading by countless users.
"The Works posted by Lerma were publicly available as pat of an unsealed
public court record in the Central District of California in _Church of
Scientology International v. Fishman_, No. CV 91-6426 HLH (Tx), C.D. Cal.
Wollersheim testified copies of the Works in his possession were sent to
him by an attorney representing defendants in that case for whom he had
provided consulting services.
"In the course of the hearing before me, RTC changed its position with
regard to what materials constitute the purported trade secrets. At the
outset, RTC maintained the entire Works were trade secrets. After evidence
was heard indicating that the Works were in the public domain, RTC claimed
that only portions of the Works, rather than the whole, were secret. RTC's
ambivalence and admission as to the non-secret nature of certain portions
of the Works casts some doubt on the secret status of Works as a whole.
"Having weighed all the relevant factors, I conclude RTC has not shown a
substantial likelihood of success on the merits and the balance of harms
weighs in favor of Defendants. Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED THAT Plaintiff's
motion for preliminary injunction is DENIED; IT IS FURTHER ORDERED THAT
Plaintiff is to return and restore to Defendants immediately and at
Plaintiff's expense all seized material sin the condition they were when
taken and to the precise places from which they were taken; IT IS FURTHER
ORDERED THAT Defendants are to maintain the status quo as to their
possession of all copyrighted materials at issue in this case and are
restricted to making only fair use thereof. Defendants are prohibited from
making any additional copies of the materials or transferring them in any
manner or publicizing them other than in the context of fair use.
Message-ID: <43niuk$7q@uwm.edu>
#####
Dennis Erlich Ruling
Judge Whyte has ruled similarly to judges in Colorado and Virginia. The
cos has been ordered to return the seized materials to Dennis. Dennis
posted this week a list of the items they have not yet returned.
"1) Any of the Sekrit Droppings they took from my house on February 13th.
"2) The tape backup they took of my complete hard drive.
"3) My February bank statement <they gave the bank account number to my
ex-wife so she could come out from hiding under her rock to levy against
the account>.
"4) A transcript of a taped debate between Heber Jentshe and me on KFI
radio from 1991.
"5) A demo tape of several of my hottest tunes. <soon to be released>
"6) Various other items that have yet to be determined because no
inventory was allowed when the materials were illegally taken from my
home."
Message-ID: <9509251253.0I3PN01@support.com>
Message-ID: <9509260906.0CSRT00@support.com>
#####
Netherlands Uproar
Internet users in the Netherlands have been busy this week, perhaps in
response to statements from the cos comparing us all to Nazis. About 300
posters containing the complete Fishman documents were pasted around
Amsterdam. Photos of various placements are available on the Web.
"Thanks to the lunacy of the paranoid cult, it seems like the entire
population of the Netherlands wants to spam the North Sea with AT
materials. I've heard they have run out of disc space and are being forced
to paste hard copies of the darned things on buildings.
"For reference, please see:
http://www.xs4all.nl/~felipe/cos/foto1.gif
http://www.xs4all.nl/~felipe/cos/foto2.gif
http://www.xs4all.nl/~felipe/cos/foto3.gif
http://www.xs4all.nl/~felipe/cos/foto4.gif
http://www.xs4all.nl/~felipe/cos/foto5.gif
Karin Spaink posted a summary of events leading up to the postering, and a
list of web sites where the OT materials can be found. Some excerpts:
"Things started when CoS raided XS4ALL. Fonss - who was at the time the
only Dutch user who had the document on his homepage - removed the Fishman
Affidavit from his homepage (leaving the other material from the FactNet
zipkit there). The indignation was quite immense. Newspapers covered the
issue extensively, there were some items on television and many Dutch
Usenet-newsgroups debated the issue. Most people were truly outraged.
"More reactions were triggered. Other people made use of their accounts at
other providers. Astrolab put a copy on his DDS-homepage, Newkid put one
on his at Cistron and turned it into a really smashing page on CoS. Nice
logos, too! Do take a look. By now, Astrolab, Cistron and I have received
e-mails from someone stating to be Helena Kobrin, lawyer on behalf of RTC.
"A call for action started circulating. Many people received e-mails
explaining what was going on and asking them to participate. The idea is
to put up as many homepages containing the F.A. as possible, in order to
make things more difficult for the CoS.
"Oussama Cherribi, a Dutch Member of Parliament for the Liberal Party
(VVD), decided to put a copy on his homepage too. We phoned (we have met
before) and I asked him what made him decide to do so. He explained that
he'd heard about the case, was somehow reminded of the Rushdie-affaire,
got really mad and acted on instinct. When asked if he would bow under
pressure, he said he was probably prepared to see this thing through if
others would as well."
And the list of sites:
http://huizen.dds.nl/~dvgeely/Co$/fishman.html
http://www.cistron.nl/newkid/info.html
http://www.pi.net/~kspaink
http://www.bart.nl/~truus/vis.txt
http://www.euronet.nl/users/ralph
http://www.phil.ruu.nl/home/freek/
http://www.luna.nl/~mare
http://www.euronet.nl/users/cherribi/fish.html
http://www.euronet.nl/users/astrolab/fish.html
http://www.icce.rug.nl/we/erikjan/Fishman.index.html
http://www.cistron.nl/~nctnico/acos.html
http://www.let.rug.nl/~erikt/.Nlnet/
http://www.pi.net/~cvk
http://www.dataweb.nl/~keesb/
http://asterix.urc.tue.nl/~rcsamd/cos/
http://kafka.nl.com
http://imagine.xs4all.nl/fishman.html
Message-ID: <44foo6$o4k_001@DIAL.NET.NYU.EDU>
Message-ID: <4451ch$7l@news.xs4all.nl>
#####
Fishman/Geertz
Dave Touretzky posted details on a new suit by Steven Fishman and Uwe
Geertz against the cos, charging them with malicious prosecution.
"Dr. Geertz, who was Fishman's psychiatrist, is represented by Ford
Greene, Esq., of the Hub Law Offices, 711 Sir Francis Drake Boulevard, San
Anselmo, CA 94960. The amended complaint was filed around September 11,
1995. Fishman does not have a lawyer yet (can't afford one); he filed
notice with the court that he will appear 'in pro per' for now.
"The list of defendants includes:
Church of Scientology International
Bowles & Moxon
Cooley, Manion & Moore
Morrison, Cohen, Singer & Weinstein
Timothy Bowles
Kendrick Moxon
Earle Cooley
John Quinn
Jonathan Lubell
Elliot J. Abelson
David Miscavige
John Does 1 to 100 (unnamed defendants as of this writing)"
In article <448492$mnu@casaba.srv.cs.cmu.edu>
#####
Der Spiegel
Der Spiegel published an article on the cos, including their activities in
Germany and interviews with Vaughn Young.
"Monday, a million of copies (or more) of DER SPIEGEL will hit the
newsstands with an article by Robert Vaughn Young, former GO / OSA member.
"The sect is fighting for Germany. In its most costly publicity drive to
date, the psycho-company slanders its opponents. A former member explains
why. The man 'lies shamelessly', he is 'unethical' and is breaking diverse
oaths of silence if he talks - claims Scientology.
Message-ID: <441fh4$13p@unlisys.unlisys.net>
#####
Doomsday Cult
Jeff Jacobsen this week posted portions of a flyer he found at the recent
demonstration in Arizona.
"A church flyer was on the ground when we picketed the church. Under the
heading 'Why continue to be part of a dying world?' is a Hubbard quote;
'30 years and then the planet will not support human life. Cheerful note.
Well that's where the politicians and 'Scientists' took us.'
"Also, the church has spent millions of dollars building underground
vaults in order to preserve Hubbard's writings in case of a cataclysm.
"Another flyer from Hubbard says 'I want you to survive World War III.'
"Scientology is a doomsday cult."
Message-ID: <444v7e$ds6@nnrp4.nfs.primenet.com>
#####
Role of Earth
An excerpt from a tape by Hubbard, "Role of Earth" was posted this week.
The tape includes discussion of the various alien invasion forces he
invented. Some excerpts:
"Now the point is that the 5th Invader Force operated for some little time
here in this system without suspecting the existence of the 4th Invader
Force and all of a sudden started to lose crews. They didn't know where
they were going. They got a little more upset about it and a little more
upset about it, and a little more upset about it and a battalion was sent
down here to Earth 8200 years ago - the 3rd battalion. If you find
somebody who is a member of the 3rd battalion, why speak up, because the
whole battalion, it's officers, staff and so forth, was under the command
of the expeditionary force commanding officer not for just this area.
"So 8200 years ago they came down in the Himalayas and the upper, upper
headlands - up about...about... I would say 72 miles northwest of Kyber
pass. And put a base in there. And still not believing that there was
anything like an Invader Force operating in this system failed to take any
vaguest precautions with regards to their installation. They put up no
defenses, after all what was here? Nothing but homo sapiens. Just nothing
- no danger, no menace and so on. And they were in this installation just
a very short time when all of a sudden there was a terrific crash. The 4th
Invader Force, which was a little bit more active then, then it has become
since, knocked out this whole battalion - a battalion of that size is in
the neigbourhood of about 3 000 beings - and picked up all of it's staff
and took them through to Mars and then knocked them back into this human
race here. They're still here. There are saucer crews here. There are all
sorts of things on Earth here from the 5th Invader Force. Very
interesting.
"This is directly and violently in opposition to the 4th Invader Force.
And the 5th Invader Force out of it's own protection took over Venus. All
relatively in modern times. Took over Venus and tried to stabilize the
venusians. If you called a 5th invader a venusian he would probably shoot
you out of hand, because it would be a horrible insult. They merely
monitor the government of Venus. And they leave Mars strictly alone. This
is really roughly a rundown of the political situation in the solar
system. That's very interesting because it gives you as preclears 'bodies
in pawn' of the 4th Invader Force. It gives you tremendous volume of
personnel that have been poured down here for various purposes.
"You got running through this a 5th Invader Force operation which is
strictly...really disinterested in Earth. Not really interested in Earth
as such because Earth is a heavy gravity planet, and who the hell wants a
heavy gravity planet? Earth would be much better off lying in chunks in an
orbit around the sun. But naturally it's a pretty rough assignment blowing
up something this size so nobody would do that. But completely aside from
that fact Earth has been used consistently as a prison. And it is a prison
and it is heavily screened. There are installations in Mongolia, there are
installations in the Pyrenees here on Earth, there are installations down
the mountains of the moon and in Africa. Which pick up, very often, people
on death, and the thetan just doesn't know what's going on - he's in a
state of deep hypnosis, really, and the moment he finds himself in
association with a dead body the thing keys and he reports to where he is
supposed to go.
Message-ID: <444qsb$e5v@mn5.swip.net>
#####
The Occult
An essay by Jon Atack, "Hubbard and the Occult" was posted this week. An
excerpt, showing how Aleister Crowley continued to influence Hubbard after
he left to found the cos:
"Scientology seems to be a hybrid of science-fiction and magic. Hubbard's
reflection on philosophy seem to derive largely from Will Durant's Story
of Philosophy (13) and the works of Aleister Crowley. Aleister Crowley is
surely the most famous black magician of the twentieth-century. It is
impossible to arrive at an understanding of Scientology without taking
into account its creator's extensive involvement with magic. The trail has
been so well obscured in the past that even such a scholar as Professor
Gordon Melton has been deceived into the opinion that Hubbard was not a
practitioner of ritual magic and that Scientology is not related to
magical beliefs and practices. In the book A Piece of Blue Sky, I explored
these connections in detail. The revelations surrounding Hubbard's private
papers in the 1984 Armstrong case in California makes any denial of the
connections fatuous. The significance of these connections is of course
open to discussion.
"In his 1952 lectures, Hubbard also referred to the Tarot cards, saying
that they were not simply a system of divination but a 'philosophical
machine'. He gave particular mention to the Fool card, saying 'The Fool of
course is the wisest of all. The Fool who goes down the road with the
alligators at his heels, and the dogs yapping at him, blindfolded on his
way, he knows all there is and does nothing about it...nothing could touch
him'
"The only Tarot pack which has a alligator on the Fool Card is Crowley's."
Message-ID: <Pine.BSI.3.91.950920003802.29602A-100000@river.biddeford.com>
Message-ID: <Pine.BSI.3.91.950920013550.1025D-100000@river.biddeford.com>
Message-ID: <Pine.BSI.3.91.950920004935.29602C-100000@river.biddeford.com>
Message-ID: <Pine.BSI.3.91.950920005119.29602D-100000@river.biddeford.com>
#####
Unpaid Taxes
Grady Ward reports on unpaid taxes in Northern California.
"I noticed in the local paper today in Humboldt County, CA that the very
biggest tax delinquents by far in this county for last year were --
surprise -- scientologists.
"Specifically, the 'Church of Spiritual Technology' (keeper of the head of
Hubbard) the criminal cult group that burrows bomb-proof tunnels into
hills, owes more than $150,000. If they don't pay in five years the county
can seize the property and sell it for auction. I for one would pay $5-10
to get into some quiet tunnel living.
"Parcel
103-101-3 Church of Spiritual Technology, Inc $93,151,78 DEFAULT
103-101-02 Joseph E. Zanone, TR (someone associated with the cult?)
103-232-02 Church of Spritual Technology, Inc $41,511,76 DEFAULT
104-111-01M Daniel G. Hunter (another associated with the cult?)
104-242-01S Church of Spiritual Technology, Inc $810,04 DEFAULT
plus 20 MORE defaults in Humboldt County last year alone."
Message-ID: <gradyDFCACJ.FLs@netcom.com>
#####
Blue Sky
Diane Richardson this week posted the 1990 decision of the U.S. Court of
Appeals, allowing the publication of A Piece of Blue Sky, by Jon Atack.
The decision examines each of the factors in deciding copyright disputes.
The cos claimed that the excerpts in Jon's book were not "fair use". In
the excerpts below, Jon is referred to as "the appellant".
"Factor One: Purpose and Character of the Use
"Our cases establish that biographies in general, and critical biographies
in particular, fit 'comfortably within' these statutory categories 'of
uses illustrative of uses that can be fair.'. We hold that factor one
favors appellant."
"Factor Two: Nature of the Copyright Work
"[T]he scope of fair use is greater with respect to factual than
non-factual works. While there is no bright-line test for distinguishing
between these two categories, we have referred to the former as works that
are 'essentially factual in nature,' 'primarily informational rather than
creative.' We have some hesitation in trying to characterize Hubbard's
diverse body of writings as solely 'factual' or 'non-factual,' but on
balance, we believe that the quoted works -- which deal with Hubbard's
life, his views on religion, human relations, the Church, etc. -- are more
properly viewed as factual or informational. We conclude that factor two
favors appellant.
"Factor Three: Volume of Quotation
"Here, the book uses overall a small percentage of Hubbard's works.
Appellant calculates that the book quotes only a minuscule amount of 25 of
the 48 works that appellee claimed were infringed, 5-6% of 12 other works
and 8% or more of 11 works, each of the 11 being only a few pages in
length. We find that factor three favors appellant.
"Factor Four: Effect on the Market
"[W]e are skeptical here that potential customers for the authorized
*favorable* biography of Hubbard in the future will be deterred from
buying because the author's *unfavorable* biography quotes from Hubbard's
works. Indeed, it is not 'beyond the realm of possibility that' the book
'might stimulate further interest' in the authorized biography. We
conclude that factor four favors appellant.
"Other Factors
"In sum, balancing all of the relevant factors, we believe that the
present case presents a strong set of facts for invoking the fair use
defense: The book is a critical biography, designed to educate the public
about Hubbard, a public figure who sought public attention, albeit on his
own terms; the book quotes from merely a small portion of Hubbard's works
and from only those that have been published; and, it will cause no
adverse impact protected by the copyright law on the market for Hubbard's
writings. In these circumstances, we conclude that the book's use of
passages from Hubbard's work is protected fair use."
Message-ID: <442c4c$244c@news-s01.ny.us.ibm.net>
Message-ID: <442c57$244c@news-s01.ny.us.ibm.net>
Message-ID: <442c5n$244c@news-s01.ny.us.ibm.net>
Message-ID: <442c5t$244c@news-s01.ny.us.ibm.net>
Message-ID: <442c64$244c@news-s01.ny.us.ibm.net>
Message-ID: <442c6b$244c@news-s01.ny.us.ibm.net>
#####
Child Dianetics
An excerpt posted this week from Child Dianetics, by You Know Who.
Don't talk around a sick child. If the doctor decides to hold a long
drawn-out conversation around the sick-bed, your natural feeling of
courtesy or awe might restrain you from doing something about it. But your
natural feeling of courtesy or awe may help severely aberrate the child
for the rest of his life. A good swift kick in the shin of anybody talking
around a sick child, or--almost any physical violence would be justifiable
under the circumstances. It sounds very strong, we know, but you can't
help feeling punitive when you've been an auditor long enough to find all
the aberrative talking that goes on around children. Even persons with the
best of intentions can thouroughly ruin a child's life that way.
Message-ID: <44bkvi$6hj@Starbase.NeoSoft.COM>