Executive Software
Reuters reported on November 5th that Scientologist and owner of Executive Software Craig Jensen is angry that Microsoft has released a way to disable the Diskeeper software. "'The stench of religious intolerance is high among government officials in Germany,' Craig Jensen, owner and CEO of California-based Executive Software International, said in a statement issued over the weekend. Microsoft -- bowing to pressure over the Scientology link -- has said it will remove the part of the Windows 2000 operating system software that has generated the bad publicity -- a disk defragmenter which helps hard disks run more efficiently. "A Microsoft spokesman in Germany said on Friday the problem stems from the fact that 'people and the media' in Germany became aware of the fact that the developer of the tool was Executive Software, whose CEO is a member of the Scientology Church. A German Interior Ministry information security expert, who spoke on condition of anonymity, has said that some German officials and clergy have voice fears that this part of the software 'could have a security problem'. "Jensen said Microsoft's move to uninstall the component defeats an important security mechanism designed to protect Windows 2000 from viruses, Internet hackers and other serious situations. A spokesman for Executive Software has said that Jensen is a believer in Scientology, but his beliefs had no relevance to the company's products. 'German officials started by boycotting American movies featuring prominent artists who are Scientologists. Now their target is American computer software,' Jensen said. 'Next, it will be American cars, books, hardware, textiles, foodstuffs and so on.'" From Dpa on November 6th: "The international Scientology organization described an agreement between the German federal government and the Microsoft software corporation as an unprecedented example of religious discrimination. The Germans plan on an option whereby 'Diskeeper,' a function produced by a US Scientologist's company, could be disabled in Microsoft's Windows 2000 program. "A rhetorical 'Should non-Catholic Americans now boycott Mercedes automobiles because they are built by Catholics in Stuttgart?' was stated in Scientology's response on Monday." From The Standard on November 7th: "An American company, Executive Software International, supplies something called a disk defragmenter for Microsoft's Windows 2000 package, and the CEO of the US company happens to be a Scientologist. 'There were public voices, among others in some of the German states and also from the churches in Germany which said this part of the software could have a security problem,' one anonymous German official tells Reuters. Microsoft spokesperson Thomas Baumgaertner explains why the software giant bowed to pressure and dumped the defragmenter: 'Since in Germany they are very, very sensitive with these things, they recommended not to use this tool.'" From PC Format magazine on November 11th: "Here's a turn-up for the books: Microsoft actually telling people how to uninstall a built-in Windows component, instead of insisting that this can't be done, as it did with Win98 and Internet Explorer. The component you're told how to uninstall is the disk defragmenter in Windows 2000, and the tortuous instructions, which you can find here, are only given in German. "Executive Software Incorporated made the disk defragmentation tool for Windows 2000. A number of Germans are seriously worried that it might pose a security problem. Given Scientology's track record - accusations of bugging, burglary and intimidation, to name but a few - you can see where they're coming from, but just this once people do seem to be getting just a teensy bit paranoid. Because people weren't going buy Windows 2000 without BSI approval, Microsoft capitulated." From Heise on November 3rd: "After a months-long unresolved dispute about a security review of Windows 2000 by the Federal Office of Security in Information Technology (BSI) the Federal Interior Ministry and Microsoft have agreed to handle it a different way: the discussion about the defragmentation software, which comes from the controversial Scientology organization and which is integrated into the operating system, is to be taken care of by the deinstallation of this component. "The BSI was tasked to review the security of Windows 2000 and of the defragmentation program. Even though the BSI stated that a professional review was impossible without access to the source code, Microsoft allegedly did not intend to grant the German agency access - a contradiction which apparently could not be solved even with months of negotiations. "'During the negotiations about the type and extent of this review, Microsoft developed, tested and published a procedure on the internet by which the tool can be completely removed from Windows 2000,' the corporation now says. The deinstallation is described on the internet. It was stated that through the option of software deinstallation, all Windows users have the free choice of deciding which defragmentation program available on the market they want to use under Windows 2000. 'On the basis of finding a pragmatic solution, the federal Interior Ministry and Microsoft have agreed to forego the the review.' "The Association of Dioceses in Germany in Bonn will be satisfied with the technical solution which will enable it to withdraw its recommendation to do without Windows 2000." From ZDNet News on November 9th: "Am I being paranoid, or does a piece of software written by a company with ties to a mysterious religious organization pose a threat to network security if loaded on a desktop PC? Germany doesn't think so and considers the threat real enough to have asked Microsoft to pull the disk defragger from Windows 2000 because it was written by a company whose owner/CEO is a member of the Church of Scientology, a group considered by the Germans to be an 'unwelcome cult,' according to a Reuters story that ran late last week. "The German action raises serious questions about freedom of religion and freedom of association - at least to the American way of thinking. There may be free-trade issues as well. And history reminds us that it wasn't so long ago that Germany would have banned 'Jewish software' as well. I'll agree with the Germans on the 'unwelcome cult' description. This is, after all, a group that considers its sacred texts to be trade secrets and has sued when portions of them were posted to an Internet news group. That sounds pretty fishy to me. "You do have to wonder how far the Germans are willing to go. Do they scan Tom Cruise and John Travolta films to make sure no subliminal messages have been added by Hollywood's best-known Scientologists? Do they block Earthlink customers because the ISP's founder, Sky Dayton, is a Scientologist? All this could get pretty silly very fast. But the line against dangerous cults has to be drawn someplace, and the Germans think they have it right." Message-ID: XmxN5.83$B3.51229@news2.voicenet.com Message-ID: Pine.LNX.3.96.1001107120423.116D-100000@darkstar.zippy Message-ID: 8uam39$q1d$1@nnrp1.deja.com Message-ID: 8uamfq$q4n$1@nnrp1.deja.com Message-ID: Pine.LNX.3.96.1001108193136.120C-100000@darkstar.zippy Message-ID: Pine.LNX.3.96.1001108193032.120A-100000@darkstar.zippy Message-ID: Pine.LNX.3.96.1001108193058.120B-100000@darkstar.zippy Message-ID: 8ue9j7$6q@netaxs.com
Germany
Freie Presse Lokales reported on November 8th that Scientologist Kurt Fliegerbauer has not fully separated himself from the city of Zwickau, as he had claimed. "Scientologist Kurt Fliegerbauer is still in contact by letter with Mayor Rainer Eichhorn as much as he ever was: 'For me the situation appears so, to put it to you briefly: I am now of a mind to wrap things up here,' the construction tycoon let the city's chief know in a letter. Fliegerbauer publicly announced his departure from Zwickau in February. "In his two-page letter to Mayor Eichhorn, the sect member also made fun of the Scientology Counseling Office planned for Zwickau. 'I wish everyone who receives counseling there has a lot of fun being under surveillance. It would be more sensible to have an outpost in Munich. There is no office there and people could be under surveillance with my entire family,' mocked Fliegerbauer. If one is to believe what he says, he intends to move to Munich." Message-ID: Pine.LNX.3.96.1001110171844.120C-100000@darkstar.zippy
Gerry Armstrong
Gerry Armstrong posted a letter he received from Scientology lawyer Andy Wilson, showing an attempt to have the court hold Gerry in contempt for speaking about Scientology. "Plaintiff/Judgment Creditor Church of Scientology International hereby applies ex parte for an order directing Defendant/Judgment Debtor Gerald Armstrong to show cause why he should not be held in contempt of this Court for Armstrong's willful defiance of this Court's October 17, 1995 Order of Permanent Injunction. "This application is made on the grounds that, in violation of the Order, Armstrong - who has twice previously been found in contempt of the Injunction - has continued to openly flaunt the authority of this Court, violating the Injunction issued by this Court in numerous respects. During the period February 20, 1998 to July 10, 2000, Armstrong made a total of 131 postings on the Internet, each of which violated one or more provisions of the Injunction. Armstrong traveled to Clearwater, Florida and on December 5, 1999 spoke before a public gathering sponsored by the Lisa McPherson Trust, a for-profit corporation, the purpose of which is to bring about the destruction of the Scientology religion. Armstrong traveled to Tampa, Florida and on December 10, 1999 gave an interview on radio station WMNF-AM, during which he again violated the terms of the Injunction. Armstrong has willfully treated this Court's authority with such callous disregard that he should be criminally sanctioned by fine and imprisonment." Message-ID: j4lo0tobmo45td7vuk666va2bmg72euh4n@4ax.com
Ilse Hruby
Tagesspiegel published an article on November 7th about a reading by Ilse Hruby, the author of "My Marriage With a Scientologist." "On November 10 at 8 p.m. Austrian author Ilse Hruby will read selected passages from her book 'Meine Ehe mit einem Scientologen.' She describes in her book how she tried in vain for four years to get her husband out of the clutches of the psycho-sect, on which account she was increasingly perceived as his enemy. All efforts to clear the matter up were to no avail, and the marriage ended in divorce. "Thomas Gandow, sect commissioner of the Evangelical Church of Zehlendorf-Brandenburg, will open the evening in the Gottfried Benn Library at 1-3 Beuckestrasse in Zehlendorf." Message-ID: Pine.LNX.3.96.1001107120213.116A-100000@darkstar.zippy
Lisa McPherson Trust Benefit
A concert was held in Clearwater on November 11th to benefit the Lisa McPherson Trust. Jamie Kennedy, great-grandson of L. Ron Hubbard was the master of ceremonies and a guest on a Tampa radio show to promote the event. "Jamie was articulate and fairly well informed. Bubba remarked on the air how impressed he was with Jamie, and begged him to return on Monday. He also promoted the Lisa McPherson Trust benefit. Bubba made a good observation; that Jamie has nothing to gain by this - no book he's promoting, etc. He also said that Scientologists were scary, and not much seems to scare Bubba. The station is WXTB 97.9 in the Tampa Bay area." The organizers of the event announced late additions to the show. "Internationally known artist Boo Ehrsam is providing a unique and unusual painting of L. Ron Hubbard to be displayed at the event, and plans are being made to produce prints of this painting, and possibly T-shirts for eventual sale. Boo Ehrsam is providing the licensing for the prints free of charge, and all proceeds from sale of the prints will go to the Lisa McPherson Trust. "In addition to Jamie Kennedy, this event will feature Tampa poet the San Man, and his acoustic guitarist friend, Glen The Other McCartney. Special guest speakers will include cult expert Jeff Jacobsen, and also Lisa McPherson Trust board members Stacy Brooks, Jesse Prince and Peter Alexander." From Jamie Kennedy's fan email list: "Thanx to all the people all over the nation who've been emailing me their horror stories with the cult, concerns, and fiery encouragement these last couple weeks. This show may be one of the most dangerous I've undertaken. Also to clarify, the Lisa McPherson Trust is NOT paying my expenses out to Florida, Mr. Scary Productions is taking care of that. This is an issue the Church has attacked. I leave next week and will enter into the strangest battlefield I've ever heard of. The event will be huge and I'll be doing interviews with radio, television and newspapers, will be staying at various safe houses and will be Alice gone down the rabbit hole." The Tampa Weekly Planet published an article promoting the event. "'We're doing this because we believe that what was done to Lisa McPherson was wrong,' says local electronic artist Tranceboy. Despite the Tampa-based DJ and producer's affiliation with nightclub culture - the music on his ACK Records album Daytrips is high-energy, mind-altering techno - the artist considers himself a Christian, and even attended Moody Bible Institute in Chicago for his first two years of college. "'You should have the choice to get in or get out of any religion that you choose to,' Tranceboy continues. 'And Scientology pretty much declares that once you're in, you're in. And a few people that have tried to get out either end up ruining their lives or they're dead, and that was the biggest concern of mine, going into the concert. I didn't realize it was going to be so highly publicized.' "The Lisa McPherson Trust is a for-profit group that, while vehemently declaring itself 'not anti-Scientology,' does state its aim as educating people about the perils of the religion. A local organization called the Foundation for Religious Tolerance has circulated a letter protesting the LMT event. The letter, written by Scientologist Mary DeMoss, cites an organization called the Hate Crimes Prevention Project, whose Web site, www.no-hate.org, calls the LMT an 'Anti-Religious Hate Group.' The letter calls into question the morality of performers with names like Gotohells, Wicker God and Fornikulture. "'Here are these bands trying to eke out a living,' DeMoss told me, 'who should be paid for their work, and instead are being lured into doing something for free so that the benefits can go to a for-profit corporation. They're a hate group, and that's how hate groups operate.' What may pose the biggest threat to Scientologists in general isn't the existence of the trust, however - it seems to be the LMT's choice of emcee for the event: California slam poet Jamie Kennedy. "Kennedy's material doesn't stray too far from the slam poetry tradition that took popular root in the early '90s - he's vitriolic, rebellious, passionate, hates organized religion, likes to say 'fuck,' and probably spits on his audiences a whole lot while performing. And though DeMoss does cite the violent and anti-Christian nature of much of Kennedy's work, that may not be what concerns Scientologists the most. Jamie Kennedy is the great-grandson of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard himself, and he's also wont to talk about stuff like the mental instability and manipulative machinations that have transpired up and down his family line. 'He's pretty hardcore,' says Tranceboy of Kennedy.' Some of his language is a little bit harsher than I would approve of, but I didn't pick him.' "Taz, the lead singer of participating band Trocar, says he has already received an anonymous, threatening phone call that he believes came from the Scientology camp. According to Jamie Kennedy's Web site, his mother has been visited by Scientologists at her California home; initially posing as fellow poets, they eventually questioned her about her son's involvement with the Club More event. For her part, the Foundation for Religious Tolerance's DeMoss says that 'any kind of scare tactics are probably being done by Mr. Krotz himself. This is how people like that operate. They do something themselves and then try and lay blame upon another. It's an old FBI tactic. It's a counterintelligence program.'" The event was held without incident. "The first annual LMT benefit concert went off yesterday without incident from the 'Keystone Cult'. The Co$ was so TERRIFIED of this event that none other than Mike Rinder and Marty Rathbun were required to cruise by in a little white Honda sedan. Despite my calling out to Mike and Marty to stop and come on in, they could only stare in amazement and scurry away. Thanks again Jamie for your OUTSTANDING performance and your fearless dedication here in Clearwater with us." Message-ID: B63026C9.25DA8%mdipietra@earthlink.net Message-ID: 3A074D67.FA5F5CBF@tampamail.com Message-ID: 3A072C71.CB79A9BF@tampamail.com Message-ID: 8uhcbt$qo3@netaxs.com Message-ID: 3a0e216b.0@news2.lightlink.com Message-ID: 8umjlg$3oe$1@nnrp1.deja.com
Tom Padgett
Tom Padgett reported that his family court case in Kentucky has ended with the judge refusing to remove his conviction, despite the evidence of child support that freed him from jail. "The judge in a shocking ruling said that he did not have the authority to reduce the previous August 22, 2000 conviction to a misdemeanor charge, even though it was a court error to have sent Tom to prison since proving support checks were missing in the Kentucky Enforcement's Collection Unit. The last question asked of Tom before the final sentencing was 'Do you intend to talk about Scientology with your children?' Tom gave the answer, 'what's that got to do with this proceeding?' The judge went on to opinion that 'Mr. Padgett has a general lack of cooperation and therefore the pre-trial diversion shall not be re-instated and the felony charge stays with a 5 year sentence and 3 years probation instead of more jail time. "It places Tom in a very vulnerable position of being set up (again) for probation violation to get him back in jail on some unrelated charge." Message-ID: 13907-3A06C6C8-20@storefull-215.iap.bryant.webtv.net
Protest Summary
Dave Bird reported on a protest held in Birmingham, England this week. "We had Dave, Jens, Andy and Pam plus two of their sons, also local women Diane and Santosh. Jens set the boom box up and I started on the mic. There were almost eleven clams out to handle us. My handler appeared to be a tall googly-eyed individual with a slight twitch. He stopped a woman with a pram, stared at her with a fixed googly stare and twitched slightly then said 'he's just come out of a lunatic asylum' (meaning me). I could see that she was really impressed by this, and quite eager to get away from her staring, twitching informant. His favourite trick was to stand about eighteen inches in front of me. "Santosh acquired a small Asian chap who constantly hovered about 15 inches behind her bum. I joined the conga with a swaying walk just fifteen inches behind him. 'I don't want you following me around Dave.' 'Santosh doesn't want you following her round either.' The clams had a blue and white 'How toxic are you?' leaflet which we also parodied. 'How stupid are you? Have you got more money than sense? Do you want to give the $cientology cult fifteen hundred pounds of your money? then just sign up over there.' A bunch of local teens wanted to join in and went on the mic saying 'beware of the toxic people, they're after your money.' "We were a bit low on leaflets, only 4 or 500 between all of us and they soon went, but we lasted for a solid two hours 1300 - 1500 then down the pub for half an hour and on for a bit of food before proceeding home." Bruce Pettycrew protested in Mesa Arizona this week. "There were 7 cars in the mi$$ion parking lot when Kathy, Ian and I started our picket at 10:30 AM. In the almost 5 years that we have been picketing, the average car count has dropped by about one car; since the Valley population has increased by over 20% in that time, the 'fastest growing religion in the world' has lost ground at over 30% in the same metropolitan area where $cientology was invented by Hubbard over 40 years ago." Message-ID: 0tbPe$CI6aB6Ew8I@xemu.demon.co.uk Message-ID: oPhP5.4766$15.1372536@news1.rdc1.az.home.com
Battlefield Earth
The New York Post reported on November 6th that Battlefield Earth, written by L. Ron Hubbard, may be turned into an animated series. "L. Ron Hubbard's 'Battlefield Earth' sci-fi novel, already a movie starring John Travolta, will be turned into a syndicated animated series produced by Japan-based Pine Com International. Pine Com has inked a deal with Author Services, Inc. to produce 20 one-hour animated segments budgeted at $4 million and based on 'Battlefield Earth,' which has sold over 6 million copies since 1982. "The deal was brokered by Javier Ruiz, Senior VP of Author Services. Ruiz says the deal also includes rights to interactive computer games and a comic book series based on 'Battlefield Earth,' which was named 'Science Fiction Book of the Century' by the American Book Readers Association. Pine Com plans to begin syndicating the episodes in spring 2002." Message-ID: 8ubggb$90f@netaxs.com
A.r.s. Week in Review is put together by Rod Keller ©
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.
