Mike Rinder is full of shit

Since Marty Rathbun has been so quiet of late, I’ve been reading Mike Rinder’s blog with interest. It’s always been obvious to me that Mike is a Hubbard apologist. Like Marty, he blames the evils of the Church on David Miscavige; like Marty, he knows full well the policies that were written by LRH; unlike Marty, he is not trying to make money from auditing, so he doesn’t have the same motivation to white-wash Hubbard.

It’s too bad, really — I’ve always kind of liked Mike. Marty has been an unapologetic thug, but Mike seems to be a bit of an underdog… although he did spend years running OSA, the Church’s spying, harassment and dirty tricks division.

So, anyway, I saw a glimmer of hope when Mike’s blog entry of December Fourth (The Texas Showdown) said:

You will see in my declaration that was filed today that I cited some little known LRH references that may surprise some readers of this blog. It’s not all sweetness and light and “My Philosophy”. People no doubt will still try to justify that they are “misapplied” and “taken out of context.” I ask that you simply read them for what they are and compare what has been reported about the activities taken against the Rathbuns. This IS the “tech” that is being applied.

Holy shit! thought I. Perhaps Mike was coming around?? I read his declaration in the Monique Rathbun case. And as all of you who read it will know… I was disappointed.

Mike posted a couple of policy excerpts from 1972, but doesn’t attribute them to Hubbard. (And it’s possible they were written by Hubbard operatives; that did happen.) But, as always, the blame remains squarely on David Miscavige. Even when he mentioned Lisa McPherson, he blames Miscavige for handling “her case” and not Hubbard for instructing his followers that the cure for a psychotic break is to lock someone in a room and not talk to them.

Now, maybe I’m being too harsh, or too impatient… rewriting negative policies from the pre-Miscavige era is a baby step. Still, there’s nothing in here that states what seems so obvious to me, but is missed by so many people: Miscavige is running the Church according to Hubbard’s rules.

Mike should know better. Even after all Hubbard has done to him (from beyond the grave, no less!) he insists on protecting the Ol’ Fraud. God bless his deluded little soul, and may he some day truly escape from Scientology.

ML,
Caliwog

Picking Apart the 31 Factors: Part 3

I’ve been writing a series of articles on Thirty-One Factors for Scientologists to Consider, Marty Rathbun’s attempt to define the Independent Scientology movement, which itself is full of lies and half-truths. (Part 1, Part 2.) Let’s continue, shall we?

Six: Miscavige has persuaded those at the top of the Scientology organization that to disclose the secrets of his unconscionable acts would harm the religion and violate “the greatest good for the greatest number of dynamics.” Thus, the truth of what goes on behind the façade of false PR that Miscavige creates is hidden from the vast majority of Scientologists and the general public.

Yes this is happening, and – credit where credit is due – thanks to people like Marty, we know about some of Miscavige’s “unconscionable acts.” But we also know the exact same thing is true of Marty’s hero, L. Ron Hubbard. LRH’s screaming fits, his temper tantrums, the abuse of staff that he ordered (overboaring, locking children in the ship’s chain lockers, etc.) were all supposed to be hidden from the public behind a “façade of false PR.” Like Miscavige, Hubbard was unable to hide all this from the public (thank you Paulette Cooper, Bent Corydon, L, Ron Hubbard Jr., Russel Miller, Jon Atack, and many others. You can even watch LRH lie about his marital history). And yet Hubbard apparently was able to hide this from Scientologists, even people like Marty, who still appear believe that this scheming shitbag was a kindly old man who just wanted to help mankind.

Seven: Miscavige uses confessions of Scientology managers to invalidate, castigate, and embarrass them into acquiescence and silence.

We know that the Church does this, and it brings up an interesting point: Priest-pennitent confidentiality. Scientology routinely breaks this in order to “ruin utterly” (LRH’s choice of words) apostates. Is this yet not more proof that Scientology is not a proper religion? Oops, wait a minute, Marty, better not go down that road – it might get the government looking at Scientology’s tax-exempt status, no doubt one of the Church’s biggest crimes. And if they do that, Marty, you might have to start paying taxes yourself.

Eight: Sea Org members who voice or even hint at any hesitation to carrying on with his tyranny or supporting his actions, are routinely physically beaten by Miscavige.

I refer you to chapter 17 of Bare Faced Messiah. Scroll down to the photo of a Scientologist being tossed over the side of the Apollo. The photo was a set-up and the caption (supposedly) a joke, but as it happens, it wasn’t — search the text for “thrown overboard” and “overboarding” and you’ll see that the legacy of physical abuse originated with LRH. The only difference is that Miscavige at least has the balls to do some of his own abuse. Hubbard, the cowardly fat fuck, had his goons do it for him.

(Incidentally, things like this contribute to my belief that Hubbard was a sociopath. Same thing when he let his wife go to jail while he fucked off and hid out without her – LRH seemed to put himself in situations where he could not be affected by the negative consequences of his own acts.)

Nine: Those Sea Org members who have attempted to correct Miscavige’s off-policy and out-tech actions have been subjected to belittlement, invalidation and false propaganda. They have been silenced through imprisonment and mental and physical duress.

This one is purely a matter of semantics. Anyone who is familiar with LRH’s “tech” – especially the admin tech, the bizarre set of policies by which the Church and other Scientology businesses are run – know that LRH often contradicted himself. If Hubbard changed his mind, it didn’t matter – whatever LRH wrote was “tech” and “on policy,” and any attempt to contradict or (God forbid!) correct them resulted in the same shit-storm. Miscavige does the same thing, but since he is not “source,” his actions can be considered “off policy” or “out tech.” (In truth, I think Miscavige is grasping at straws to make a non-workable way of doing things somehow work. Frankly, with Hubbard dead and no new policy, I’m amazed Miscavige has kept the whole scam going this long, and not surprised that it’s falling down all around him.)

And because of the contradictions that LRH wrote into the policy (and spoke in lectures, the content of which form part of Scientology gospel), it’s pretty easy to prove that any action is both on-policy and off-policy. (Take it from someone who frequently made use of these contradictions to get what he wanted!) Witness the “Ideal Org” strategy that is draining the Church of money. Independants say it’s off policy, Church-goers say it’s on-policy. Who is right? Well, according to LRH policy, both of them!

Ten: Miscavige’s abuse of Scientology executives and staff became so extreme and continuous, he resorted to locking all of CMO INT and Exec Strata into a building and called the prison “the Hole.” RTC, CMO/WDC, Gold, IAS, CST, OSA Int and ASI executives and staff have regularly been deposited in the Hole and subjected to Reverse Dianetics, including physical beatings and severe mental abuse for months or even years at a time.

No argument here, but there’s an important fact that Independent Scientologists never talk about, and Marty always glosses over: Who came up with the idea of an in-house prison camp? That would be L. Ron Hubbard, who established the Rehabilitation Project Force in 1974. The RPF did get worse under Miscavige, but it was LRH who originated the idea of segregating those who didn’t do what they were supposed to do and limit their freedoms, activities, and even contact with their spouses and children. Read all about the true origins of the RPF in The ABCs of the RPF.

Okay, wogs, I think that’s enough truth for now! More on Marty’s 31 Factors when I get around to it.

ML,
Caliwog

Is Marty Rathbun losing his faith?

Some strange goings-on at Marty Rathbun’s web site this past few weeks!

In a recent post, Scientology Inc “Justice”, Marty quoted an LRH rant against the FBI, prefacing it with this:

“Irrespective of how exaggerated his rancor might have been about the target of his wrath…”

That may sound perfectly rational, unless you know about Scientology — in which case you know that’s like a devout Christian calling Jesus “a lover of young men and boys.”

Add that on to the strange February 22nd radio interview (the one I keep promising to write more about, but keep not getting around to) in which Marty said that the OT3 story wasn’t to be taken literally, and I have to start wondering: What’s in the water down there in Texas?

Understand that 100% allegiance and adherence to L. Ron Hubbard and his “tech” are paramount to being a Scientologist. If you don’t buy into all of the bullshit, the scam doesn’t work.

Needless to say, Marty’s heretical words aren’t sitting well with all of his flock. A couple of sample comments:

“Exaggerated? Exaggerated rancor? I disagree, utterly. I think LRH was not reasonable [Scn. definition: Finding reasons to let bad behavior continue] with Suppressives…I would expect that more people would be interested in discussing the Global Sit[uation] and objectively whether LRH did exaggerate about FBI’s intentions and activities, which Marty posted as “exaggerated rancor” which I think he should revoke.”

“Was LRH’s “rancor exaggerated”? Google FBI’s “cointelpro”. 85% of cointelpro budget used to investigate suspected communists, civil rights leaders, Vietnam war protesters etc. and 15% of budget to investigate Ku Klux Klan hate crimes.”

(Marty posted an update as a result, but good for him, he didn’t backpedal.)

Still others took the role of LRH apologist, basically saying “It’s okay if LRH was full of shit, because his work is still good.” This is the line Marty usually takes. Again, some sample commentary:

“There is lots to reject about the man as a husband, a father, the Founder etc. and I don’t mind discussing the negative as a matter of course, but in the end, not one person has delivered anything close to what he created. So all else pales in comparison.”

“…the nit-picking over LRH is simply reactive mind. … one (not one) has anything even remotely resembling a better solution than Scn.”

My favorite was this justification of the Scientology infiltration of the government, when they were caught breaking in and stealing files:

“I see it as a group of OT’s vs real enemies in the government.”

BUT – it’s also bringing out some of the doubting Thomases of the Indie set, many of whom are raising their own doubts about LRH’s credibility:

“…according to my observations and experience going back to the 70′s, most of the Ron letters* were fake. Signed either by a machine or someone trained in his signature. It was a big fat lie.”

* Ron’s Standing Order #1 was that anyone could write to him, and he would write back. Thousands of Scientologists have “Ron letters” among their treasured possesions.

“…Also, around 1974 I wrote a letter and the response came back the next day. I asked the Sea Org Missionaire and the LRH Comm who handed me ‘Ron’s’ letter if they knew where LRH was and they replied they thought he was in Ireland or some such place. I watched the LRH Com’s eyes twitch as I said, “Hmmm, pretty good. I sent the letter yesterday. It went to LRH in Ireland six thousand miles away and he answered it and it was transported all the way back to me. In just a day. Wow. That’s speed of particle flow. I thought maybe it was some highly advanced secret transportation device they were using in order to magically make this happen. Or maybe OT powers!!”

And then there’s this one, which miraculously made it through the Marty censor:

” [quoted from another comment] >>the fact that thousands (conservative estimate) of people have gotten gains from auditing, and at present ,people still do get gains from auditing, is simply an unintended byproduct of his true intentions.<<

…or that auditing “tech” wasn’t original to Hubbard.

And here’s a really odd one. One commenter wrote:

“LRH had to use a toilet just like the rest of us. This is because he had a body, just like the rest of us. He got angry and irrational at times, just like the rest of us. He probably went out-ethics sometimes, just like the rest of us…” (there’s more)

And Marty’s reply:

“If one is capable of parking his or her reason at the door for L Ron Hubbard he or she is capable of parking it for David Miscavige. In fact, if it were not for the proclivity toward the former phenomenon the latter phenomenon never would have materialized…”

Wait a minute – am I reading this wrong, or is Marty saying that following LRH unquestioningly is the same as following the current Church unquestioningly?

What on Teegeack is going on here?

Two possibilities: One, Marty is a secret agent of the Church, trying to blow his own Independent movement out of the water by proving to die-hard Church-goers that his group is an anti-LRH squirrel group, therefore driving true Scientologist back into the arms of the Church where they can get “pure tech.”

Two: Marty is slowly beginning to see the light through the cracks.

I’m pretty sure it’s not the former, and boy oh boy, do I hope it’s the latter. Now, I don’t expect Marty to renounce Scientology any time soon. After all, he’s been “in” for decades, and besides, it’s paying his rent. But it appears he acknowledges that there are holes in LRH’s “tech” (not to mention his claims about his life and accomplishments) that cannot be rationally explained.

If Marty truly sees the light – if he realizes that this so-called “religion” is a scam, not just one perpetrated by David Miscavige, but one perpetrated by L. Ron Hubbard – it’s possible that we could see the end of the money-grubbing, life-destroying, family-rending, tax-evading con job that is Scientology.

I, for one, am holding out hope.

ML,
Caliwog

Independent Scientology breaks up families

In his interview with Mike Rinder, Tony Ortega’s postscript thanked Christie Collbran, Mike’s girlfriend, for her patience, as she is just about to have a baby. (Congratulations, Mike and Christie.) His thank-you note links to this New York Times article about Christie and her ex-husband, Chris.

Chris and Christie were former Sea Org members who got tired of the atmosphere of control. Christie got pregnant (children are not allowed in the Sea Org, and members are encouraged to have abortions) and the two of them “routed out standardly” – in other words, they went through the proper process, complete with confessionals and a five-figure “freeloader debt” which they paid off. (Sea Org members get free Scientology classes and counesling in exchange for their labor. Per L. Ron Hubbard’s policy, if they break their billion-year contract, they are expected to pay for those services at full retail.)

Despite following Hubbard’s myriad and complex rules for leaving, both Collbrans were declared Supressive Persons, and their Scientology families disconnected from them. According to the article, Christie’s own mother sent her an email calling her a “snake in the grass.” But that’s not the disconnection I’m talking about – we already know that Church members cut ties with family members who go to the Independent movement, which Marty, Mike, and his ilk label as “forced disconnction” and blame on David Miscavige. (In fact, disconnection is an L. Ron Hubbard policy that Marty has defended.)

No, the disconnection I’m talking about happened later. Chris and Christie left as a married couple, but while Christie still believed in Hubbard and Scientology, Chris decided he wanted nothing to do with it. The NYT article quotes Chris: “Eventually I realized I was part of a con,” he said, “and I have to leave it and get on with my life.”

The NYT article ends with its own postscript:

“Despite all they have been through together, Ms. and Mr. Collbran are getting a divorce. The reason, they agree sadly, is that they no longer see eye to eye on Scientology.”

Let’s review: Chris and Christie apparently loved each other enough to stay together through the ordeal of being in, and leaving, the Sea Org. They had a baby together (although the NYT article seems to imply that her sole reason for getting pregnant was to leave the Sea Org, I have trouble believing that Christie would be so selfish and self-serving as to bring a child into this world strictly because she was too much of a coward to stand up and leave on her own). Their bond was strong enough to survive all that – and yet the wedge that drove them apart was simply that Chris realized that Scientology is a scam and Christie didn’t.

See, this is how Scientology really breaks up families. Believers don’t want to be with non-believers – and non-believers can’t stand to watch their loved ones delude themselves and waste all their money on Scientology services. Not all Scn/non-Scn relationships break up, but LRH policy pushes the us-vs-them mentality. Non-Scns are always viewed as wogs and “not part of the group.” They are always viewed with suspicion. Just note how dissenters on Marty’s blog (when they aren’t censored) are labeled as “OSA” (Office of Special Affairs, the Church’s secret police) or “agreeing with Miscavige,” even those who openly say that Scientology is full of shit.

Marty can crow all he wants about “forced disconnection,” but this is the Scientology mindset – and as long as people follow L. Ron Hubbard, Scientology will continue to break up families, whether they pratice inside the Church or on their own.

ML,
Caliwog

L. Ron Hubbard Killed Lisa McPherson

If there’s one sure-fire way Marty Rathbun can make my blood boil, it’s when he tries to blame the death of Lisa McPherson on anyone other than L. Ron Hubbard. So his latest headline, David Miscavige Killed Lisa McPherson, got me going right away.

But rather than simply write a blog entry denouncing Marty as a self-serving, profit-seeking, Hubbard-worshiping piece of shit, I decided to try to put my bias aside and hear what he and Mike Rinder had to say.

For those who are new, I talked about the Introspection Rundown in a post called Read for yourself: The LRH “technology” that killed Lisa McPherson. Make no mistake: The reason Lisa McPherson is dead is because a group of Scientologists attempted to treat a legitimate psychiatric problem with Hubbard’s bullshit quackery.

(By the way, I found it hardest to keep my temper when I read this tidbit from Rinder: “…she DID die of a pulmonary embolism – it happens all the time in hospitals with doctors on call – so it is not certain that medical attention would have saved her life…” If Mr. Look-Don’t-Listen could be bothered to look on the Internet, he’d know that one possible cause of a pulmonary embolism is being inactive or bedridden for a long period of time… like 17 days locked in a hotel room without sufficient food or water. Honestly, Mike, you’re such a fucking twit sometimes.)

Anyway… The basic point that Rinder and Rathbun make is that while the Introspection Rundown may have contributed to her death (May have??? Sorry, can’t help myself), the real problem is that David Miscavige got personally involved in Lisa McPherson’s “case” (her Scientology status), declaring her “Clear” (a level in Scientology) when she wasn’t. Hubbard did say that applying certain Scientology processes to someone who had not had the prerequisite brainwashing preparation could be dangerous. According to Marty and Mike, if her status had been accurately assigned, she would not have been eligile for the Introspection Rundown, and would not have died. (At least I agree with them on that last part!)

The reason they are applying blame to DM is because of the fear he instills: There were Scientologists who should have known that Lisa wasn’t actually a Clear, but went along with the whole thing only because DM said she was clear, and saying that DM is wrong can get you in all sorts of trouble. (And by the way, what does that say about the shitheel Scientologists who would have thought the Introspection Rundown was dangerous, but did it anyway to avoid putting their own asses on the line? Hey, wait, wasn’t Marty one of those shitheels?)

So, anyway, I can kind of see Marty’s point – the belief that Lisa died because she was submitted to the wrong process at the wrong time.

Of course, Hubbard also predicted that reading the Xenu story would cause death by pneumonia. Marty knows that; in fact, in a February 22nd radio interview (discussion of which is conspicuously absent from his blog), Marty basically says that the Xenu story, and the threat of pneumonia, should be taken figuratively, not literally. (I’ll talk more about that devastating interview in the near future.)

So let’s review: The Xenu/pneumonia thing should not be taken seriously (since we know it doesn’t happen), but giving an Introspection Rundown to a mis-declared Clear really is dangerous. Got that?

Marty goes on to say that the state of Clear is not ambiguous, “given it is accompanied by the UNMISTAKABLE meter phenomena” (he’s referring to a certain needle movement on the E-Meter). Marty kicks into fluent Scientologese, saying, “If one understands the St Hill Special Briefing Course (SHSBC) and one understands further L Ron Hubbard clarifications and developments with respect to the state of Clear after the SHSBC (Dianetic Clear Special Intensive – DCSI – and Clear Certainty Rundown – CCRD), there is no more simple cycle of action in the universe than sorting out whether an individual is Clear or not.”

The bit about “clarifications and developments” may be an end-run around those who have read about Hubbard’s first presentation of a Clear in 1950. Hubbard said Clears have perfect memories, and yet Hubbard’s own Clear, one Ms. Sonia Bianca, couldn’t remember the color of Hubbard’s tie when he turned around.

“Clear” is one of the few levels in Scientology that makes some firm promises, and as far as I know, no one has ever been able to demonstrate them. One of my favorite quotes from ex-Scientologist Jason Beghe:

“…theres a guy on the internet apparently who’s said he’ll give a million bucks if someone can demonstrate OT. I’ll give a million bucks if to anybody that can demonstrate Clear. There’s no fucking Clear. There’s no Clear. There’s no Clear. I mean, just looking at Dianetics, Clear is, what, are you kidding me? Clear… It’s too good to be true and that’s basically it.”

So, anyway, I think I see Marty’s point: Because David Miscavige personally mis-declared Lisa McPherson as having achieved the state of Clear – a condition that no one has ever been able to demonstrate – Lisa was then put on the Introspection Rundown. Since this process should not have been run on her, either because she wasn’t really a clear or because she had an un-handled Potential Trouble Source (PTS) condition (meaning someone she knew was trying to tell her Scientology is a scam, and she hadn’t disconnected from that person), the process was harmful to her health, so she died. (Except that, according to Dr. Mike Rinder, she might have been ready to pop off anyway.)

This is how a Scientologist justifies his or her belief that L. Ron Hubbard’s “technology” works. It’s easy – all you have to do is ignore the fact that this poor woman was locked in a hotel room for over two weeks by people who gave her the silent treatment and didn’t deal with the fact that she wasn’t eating or drinking. No, those things weren’t the cause of death – it was that evil David Miscavige.

This is blatent ignorance as spread by Lisa McPherson’s real killer, L. Ron Hubbard. And it’s proof that anyone thinks that Marty’s brand of Scientology is any safer than the Church of Scientology is deluding themselves. The “Indies” are just as brainwashed… and they are just as much at risk.

And when I think about it that way, I don’t get angry at Marty – I feel sorry for him.

For the record, I still think Marty is a self-serving, profit-seeking, Hubbard-worshiping piece of shit – but I acknowledge that he might not realize that yet.

ML,
Caliwog

Related:

In Memoriam: Lisa McPherson (one day late)

Read for yourself: The LRH “technology” that killed Lisa McPherson

Picking Apart the 31 Factors: Part 2

In Part 1 of this series, we started looking at Marty Rathbun’s 31 Factors for Scientologists to Consider, the rickety framework upon which the Independent Scientology movement is built. There was so much bullshit in the introduction, we didn’t even make it to the first factor. Let’s continue, shall we? Here’s Marty:

One: Scientology has been taken over by a self-appointed dictator, David Miscavige, who has turned the Creed of the Church of Scientology, the Code of a Scientologist, and the Credo of a True Group Member on their heads and instituted the virtual practice of Reverse (Black) Dianetics.

Let’s not forget that Scientology was started by a self-appointed dictator, who was living out his fantasies of grandeur. Anyone who has read up on Hubbard knows how he fucked up his chance at commanding a ship. So what did he do? He got himself his own damn navy, buying ships with his parishoner’s money, and made himself the Commodore. Let’s be fair: For Hubbard, Scientology wasn’t just about making money; it was about living out the fantasies borne of his failures.

But I digress. As for the Creed, the Code and the Credo, as I said in the last blog entry, these are fancy PR jobs that are incompatible with Hubbard’s technology and intentions.

“Two: In his quest to attain power Miscavige forcibly removed no less than four Hubbard appointed executives senior to himself, and dozens of Scientologists who had created scores of huge, effective Scientology centers. Miscavige used threat of force and violence in clearing the path to control of all Scientology organizations and assumed the self-created position of Chairman of the Board. He was never assigned by Hubbard and holds a position that was not created by Hubbard.”

There is a lot of debate as to whether DM is the rightful heir to Hubbard’s throne. Aaron Saxton maintains that David Miscavige was Hubbard’s intended choice, and he explained why in this blog entry. It is true that the position of “Chairman of the Board” was never invented by Hubbard, but swapping titles is nothing new in the Church. Executives (including Hubbard himself) constantly change titles, usually to avoid legal liability.

Is Miscavige’s well-documented use of “force and violence” anything new? No, it’s part of the culture of Scientology. Hubbard may not have been much for fists (he probably didn’t have Miscavige’s small-man complex) but he was a legendary hot-head. Somewhere there’s an MP3 file of him screaming at a Messenger (one of the hot-pants-clad teenage girls he had waiting on him hand and foot) (if anyone has a link, I’d be grateful). Meanwhile, you can read these true stories of Hubbard and decide for yourself if he was any less tempermental than DM.

“Three: Since securing his position of power, the statistics of Scientology have steadily decreased in spite of Miscavige’s public proclamations to the contrary.”

That’s the problem with Scientology stats: No one really knows what is happening, although it’s clear that the Church is declining – mostly because the Internet has let the world know that Scientology is basically a UFO religion designed to milk people’s wallets. Remember, Marty still believes in Xenu… and the Introspection Rundown.

“Four: Miscavige has conducted a campaign to fortify his personal power by denigrating and depowering anyone who personally knew and worked with Hubbard. That includes, but is not limited to, the members of Hubbard’s family. The operation served to consolidate his personal power while immeasurably harming the vigor and image of Scientology.”

This is my favorite – in fact, it’s the one that inspired me to write this article – because it implies that Hubbard’s family was somehow special.

Scientology teaches that Scientology itself is more important than family, which explains the high divorce rate and the frequency of family disconnections. Hubbard was a terrible husband and a lousy father. He was a bigamist, denied the existence of one of his wives, and let the third one – the one he supposedly loved – go to jail while he went into hiding. Hubbard all but denied the existence of the children who didn’t go along with the program (a lie that Marty himself implied was true in his laughably awful Ode to L. Ron Hubbard). And let’s not forget Hubbard’s reaction when he found out that Arnie Lerma was banging his daughter.*

(* Okay, I don’t actually know if Arnie and Suzette were doing the nasty, but it’d be really cool if they were. Scientology may have infiltrated the Justice Department, but one of the guys who did the most damage to Scientology did some infiltratin’ of his own! High five! You know what I’m talkin’ about!)

“Five: Miscavige accomplished his coup by commandeering the only line of communication to Hubbard during the last five years of his life, plying Hubbard with embellished and false reports of a dangerous environment to keep him out of communication with Sea Org members and his family. The reports falsely accused Hubbard’s family and lifelong friends of selling out to the enemy and that Scientology orgs had been infiltrated by psychiatric and government interests. He prevented true reports from reaching Hubbard in order to make his actions appear necessary and on policy and to solidify his position.”

Bullshit like this really irks me. The implication is that Hubbard had no idea what was going on during the last few years of his life, and was somehow kept in isolation. Bullshit, bullshit, bullshit.

Hubbard went into hiding in order to avoid prosecution. He was labeled an “un-indicted co-conspirator” in the break-in that sent his wife, Mary Sue, to jail. We know that Hubbard was the micro-manager to end all micro-managers, and yet we’re supposed to believe that this uneductaed kid, Hubbard’s former cameraman, was suddenly able to isolate Hubbard from the Scientology empire he worked his whole life to build up? Come the fuck on!! Hubbard’s isolation was self-imposed, and the eyewitness accounts (let’s not forget that Marty wasn’t around) are that he was anything but isolated from Scientology.

I believe that Hubbard was still calling the shots, but he was unwilling to face the consequences of his ill-gotten gains… although he was all too willing to let his own wife face the consequences for him. What an absolute piece of shit he was.

Okay, I think that’s enough for today. I’ll continue this series if I don’t get bored with it first. (Update: I didn’t. Here’s Part 3.)

ML,
Caliwog

Picking Apart the 31 Factors: Part 1

Note: See below for original introduction.

In order to remind people of the modus operandi of the Independent movement – which is to use the negative publicity surrounding Miscavige to whitewash L. Ron Hubbard, so that true believers like Marty Rathbun (and possibly Debbie Cook) can continue to make money by selling Scientology – I wanted to take a look at one of Marty Rathbun’s first articles, 31 Factors for Scientology to Consider. Let’s pick this baby apart and look for the lies and half-truths. I won’t do the whole thing today, but that’s OK; Marty starts misleading in the first sentence.

Remember, as the South Park boys say: THIS IS WHAT SCIENTOLOGISTS ACTUALLY BELIEVE.

“Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard discovered methodologies that can enhance self-determinism, increase freedom of choice, and bring about higher states of awareness and beingness to those who practice them.”

Oh boy. Where do we start? With the word “discovered”? Or with the claims made for Scientology? This is the same bullshit claim that the Church uses. Ask any ex-Scientologist about the freedom of choice or awareness level in Scientology.

“Hubbard developed a method of confession that includes unconditional forgiveness and results in more able, happy and peaceful beings.”

Actually, Hubbard stole a method of “confession” that results in more able, happy and peaceful beings. It’s called abreaction therapy, and it’s one of many psychotherapy methods that involves looking at past traumas to figure out why your life is hanging up. Hubbard cribbed it for Dianetics, and it works, which helps draw people into the scam.

Now, a real Scientologist would whip out its* dictionary and show me the definition of the word “develop” and use that as proof that Hubbard did not actually claim authorship. Bullshit, says I; the implication and belief is that Hubbard invented it, which he didn’t.

(* Thetans (the Scientology term for our spirits) are supposedly non-gender-specific, so perhaps we should start referring to Scientologists as “it” rather than “he” or “she.”)

“Hubbard developed an ethics system that an individual can apply to himself to improve his worth to himself and to his fellows.”

Hubbard developed an ethics system that encourages people to report on everyone they know and turn their back on anyone who dares talk bad about Scientology. That includes children, parents, and spouses. One important lesson: You cannot trust a Scientologist. Hubbard taught his customers followers that the “group” (Scientology) is more important than any one individual.

“Hubbard established a form of organizational policy that is predicated on rewarding accomplishment rather than punishing failure.”

I’ve worked extensively with this organizational policy, and the whole reward accomplishment/punish failure thing is a major fail. Hubbard’s “management by statistics” means that if your stats are up, you are left alone, but if they are down or flat, you have to change things, no matter the reason for your “downstat” condition.

In some jobs, constant improvement is possible. But in others, it’s not. Imagine a fire department: Normally, if the number of fires is down, that’s a good thing. It means fire prevention education is working and the taxpayers are saving money. In a Hubbard-run fire department, the “fires put out” stat would be down and everyone would be in trouble. The fire fighters could become arsonists, but more likely they would invent a new statistic that they could keep improving for a while, and then when that one plateaud, find a reason that statistic was the improper one, send a few people to waste their time doing useless “lower condition write-ups”, then invent a new statistic, and keep it until that one tanks, too.

That last scenario is what happens at most Hubbard Admin Tech companies, and it’s why they spend a lot of time spinning their wheels instead of building their business. Hubbard insisted that his Management Technology was the only workable management technology ever invented, and yet you won’t find a single Admin Tech company on the Fortune 500.

“Hubbard set forth many of the fundamental values of Scientology and its organizations in the Creed of the Church of Scientology, The Code of a Scientologist, and the Credo of a True Group Member.”

Oh yeah? Here are some bits from the Creed of the Church of Scientology:

“That all men of whatever race, color or creed were created with equal rights.”

But not gay people or black people.

“That all men have inalienable rights to think freely, to talk freely, to write freely their own opinions and to counter or utter or write upon the opinions of others.”

Although doing so may be considered a Scientology crime and get your ass kicked out.

“And that no agency less than God has the power to suspend or set aside these rights, overtly or covertly.”

And if you stay in long enough and spend enough money, you’ll learn that Hubbard says that Scientologists basically are God, and therefore they do have that power. Which is why they can send you to the RPF, the in-house prison camp that Hubbard invented, and keep you there.

From the Code of a Scientologist:

“1. To keep Scientologists, the public and the press accurately informed concerning Scientology, the world of mental health and society.”

Except for the PR policies about telling an “acceptable truth,” and the lies about the psychiatry profession, outdated and untrue, that Scientologists are led to believe.

“9. To embrace the policy of equal justice for all.”

Funny that, as right now the Church is trying to tell the courts that Scientology justice takes precedence over “Wog” justice. This is a belief that Hubbard espoused in policy.

I could go on, but you get the idea. You can read The Creed of the Church of Scientology, The Code of a Scientologist, and The Credo of a True Group Member (WARNING: All Church links) and see the bullshit for yourself.

“Thirty-one factors have been discovered that threaten the continued viability of this vital subject.”

Oh dear, I’ve filled up a whole blog entry and haven’t even made it past the introduction! We’ll start delving into the factors themselves in Part 2.

ML,
Caliwog

This was the original introduction to this article. Zapped in the interest of making this a better reference piece.

The Debbie Cook situation fills me with mixed feelings. It’s hard not to feel sympathy for Ms. Cook, although let’s not forget that she pushed the scam of Scientology on many others, and apparently wants to continue to do so. The publicity surrounding her case is a very real problem for the protest movement, as it pushes the perception that the problem with Scientology is the organized Church, and that Scientology itself is just a harmless religion.

Of course, Scientology is anything but harmless (or a religion, for that matter).

Perhaps we really don’t have anything to worry about…

Just read a recent post, Miscavige’s Religious Freedom Crusade, on Marty’s blog.

For those not in the know, the fruits of the Squirrel Busters labors have finally been revealed in the form of this video, which does a pretty good job of portraying Marty as crazy and violent, while conveniently leaving out the fact that they literally worked overtime to provoke him. (For the record, I think Marty’s anger was justified, although his behavior wasn’t too bright.) In one scene, Marty popped a guy in the face, knocking off his sunglasses and allegedly causing cuts. The Scientologists reported it and Marty was arrested, but David Aken, the county attorney, refused to file charges.

The blog entry cites a letter from the guy Marty hit (although Marty says it was “clearly written” by a Scn lawyer who just died) to “Mr. Akens” (Dumb shits!), questioning the decision not to prosecute, and mentioning that he was producing a documentary for his religion.

I saw the message between the lines pretty clearly: This is a thinly veiled threat of a religious discrimination lawsuit. Marty even pointed that out in the blog entry.

You’d expect to see talk of this in the comments, right? Wrong! Here’s a sampling of what Marty’s flock had to say:

“DM and his corrupt church are PTS corporate idiots stable datum and it’s senior to their logic.”

“I do feel sorry for him, must be awful to be such a lilly-livered little coward. I’m shore [sic] he dudn’t get much respect. Too sad.”

“Pathetic. I’m surprised this clown didn’t throw in something along the lines of “My psychiatrist has confirmed that I have suffered irreversible mental anguish, trauma and PTSD from this incident.”

(In case you don’t know, to a Scientologist, saying someone goes to a psychiatrist is a HUGE insult, as bad as if I told you that your mother is a whore. Speaking of which, if you see your mother, tell her she still owes me change from my $20 bill. OH SNAP!!)

“The obvious insanity and psychotic behavior of miscavige and his personal cult is well described in the following excerpts from an LRH bulletin…”

“..that Norman guy from your videos is one of the greasiest most evil-purposed looking SP’s I’ve ever seen.”

And the Ignorance of the Wog World Award goes to Sara:

Jury trial for battery? Really?

I thought there might be SOME intelligent discussion of the possibility of a lawsuit, and how that might get handled in Texas, and all the positive media reaction it might receive… but, nope. Nada. Just a lot of childish name-calling.

Compare that to these randomly-picked comments from this Church-run, anti-Marty site:

“Rathbun just keeps going right past all his idiotic screw ups and still thinks he’s smart.”

“If there’s anything that Rin and Rat want to stop it’s Scientology’s basic purpose… They will never get policy, and even if they did, they would work against it. These are not good, constructive people.”

“I think that Rathbun knows he is an incompetent moron.”

Sometimes I wonder why I even bother to protest this so-called religion. They’re like a bunch of fucking eight-year-olds. I suppose this is a perfect example of the sort of blind, idiotic conformity that Hubbard was trying to achieve… problem is, I don’t think he imagined that the mental eight-year-olds he created, like Miscavige and Rathbun, would ever be running the show.

Sometimes I wonder if we really have anything to worry about. Of course, I know that while an individual wasp may not be all that much of a problem, get a swarm of them angry and they can really ruin your day.

ML,
Caliwog

The Debbie Cook disintegration

I suppose the Debbie Cook situation is too big a thing for me not to comment on it.

In case you’re not familiar, Debbie Cook is a former high-ranking Scientology executive. Over the New Year weekend, she sent an email to 12,000 Scientologists complaining about the Church’s emphasis on fund raising for ornate Ideal Orgs and forcing Scientologists to re-take “levels” that they do not need. Ms. Cook blames David Miscavige for the destruction of the Church’s management structure, and quotes LRH policy saying that selling Scientology, not fund-raisers, should be used to make money. The letter (authenticated by other sources) can be found at this Marty Rathbun blog entry.

So what does this mean? Well, for one thing, it means you should stock up on popcorn!

I’m taking a wait-and-see attitude towards this one. Debbie claims she is a member in good standing of the Church, and is not in communication with those who aren’t (i.e. Marty and his crew). Her outlook is clearly similar to many Independents – that LRH’s tech is basically good, and David Miscavige’s implementation is bad – although she lacks Marty’s vitriol towards DM. (I’m sure that will come in good time.)

I have often said that David Miscavige is following closely in the foosteps of L. Ron Hubbard. Debbie’s email bolsters the Independent argument that DM is mis-managing the Church, counter to LRH’s intentions. I can’t argue her with the policy she quotes; LRH emphasized exchange (i.e. no something-for-nothing) (although he did have financial mechanisms in place to accept financial “gifts”). Ms. Cook’s policy quotes clearly show LRH’s intention to use Scientology services as the main profit center (something I would think the IRS should take notice of). As for DM’s provenance, there is little evidence available to the public of what LRH actually intended for Church management after his death.

I would imagine that the reason for David Miscavige’s emphasis on fund-raising is that Scientology simply isn’t making money the way it used to. When LRH was alive, he continually updated the scam Scientology to adapt it to modern times. Since his death, Scientologists have continued to beat the same dead horses. Their vilification of psychiatry, for example, which may have had merit in the 1950s, seems ridiculous and ill-informed today. But with no new policies being written, and their conviction that LRH had all the answers, what else can they do but keep on keeping on?

David Miscavige is the product of a Scientology environment – the “Homo Novis” who is dedicated to fulfilling his purpose, no matter what. He’s exactly the kind of sociopathic bastard that Scientology tries to create. You’ll see similar personality traits in other Scientologists, especially when they get angry. (See Aaron Saxton’s video interview for a candid discussion of just how ruthless Scientologists are supposed to be.)

Anyway, as always, I have mixed feelings about stories like these. On the one hand, anything that exposes the truth about Scientology is a good thing – and Scientology’s endless “regging” for money is the truth.

On the other hand, this story does, in some small way, perpetuate the myth that David Miscavige is the source of Scientology’s bad practices. To be fair, Scientologists like Marty Rathbun and Debbie Cook are too young to know how bad things were when Hubbard was running the show. It’s a classic example of “Good Old Days” syndrome.

Fortunately, there are still people who remember that the Good Old Days were anything but good. Like this person.

So, as I said, I’ll wait and see. As I’m sure Marty Rathbun will. After all, this could go two ways for him.

If Debbie Cook ends up being an ally, this could be a windfall for Marty’s burgeoning Scientology business, with the potential to bring in a lot of customers with big pockets.

On the other hand, if Ms. Cook is laying the groundwork for her own auditing business, then I’m sure Marty will be quick to give her the David Mayo treatment.

As for me, I’ll continue doing what I do best: Talking about the real practices of Scientology as dictated by L. Ron Hubbard. Despite Miscavige’s attempt to accelerate the emptying of parishioners’ pockets, it is within “the Tech” that the real evil of Scientology can be found.

Let’s keep our eye on the ball – as long as people are reaching for information about Scientology, it is the obligation of the protest movement to see that people get the real truth – not the skewed version of those who, like Hubbard, Miscavige, and Rathbun, seek to profit from its followers.

ML,
Caliwog

Five questions I’d like Marty Rathbun and/or Mike Rinder to answer

[Caliwog note: This is a post I started about a year ago and never quite got polished. But I’m going to post it as-is, because the questions are still valid. Feel free to add your own questions – and Marty, Mike or other Scios, feel free to answer.]

1) If you were able to clear the planet, what would you do with the 2.5% of the population who is suppressive, the insane, and people who are not eligible for Scientology services?

2) Is the Introspective Rundown a valid treatment for a psychotic break?

3) Should Scientology be tax-exempt?

4) Since the RPF was invented by LRH, do you think that Scientology organizations should have an RPF, and if so, what should life in the RPF be like?

5) Are psychiatrists evil?

Remember, comments on this blog are not censored. Any and all answers, from either Marty, Mike or other Scientologists, are welcome.

ML,
Caliwog