Bob Minton, In The News Again?

I was surprised to see this name in this mornings google news search. Bob Minton. Talk about news- necromancy. I really don't know if this is a recent news item from allafrica.com, or just a server refresh that google happen to catch.

Nigeria: Fashanu in Public Court
19 August 09: "...Robert Minton, whom Fashanu had accused of serving as a front for the Federal Government, had accused him of being sponsored by Scientology organisation, a cult group Minton had brought into critical light.

Minton said: "Fashanu has been used by the Scientology organisation that considers me to be their greatest enemy in the world. There is no chance Fashanu investigated it on his own. His investigator is a full-time worker for Scientology. This is a vendetta on Scientology's part against me and they are using Fashanu and Nigeria as a tool to beat me on the head. That is the bottomline."

Whether these inconsistencies were the creation of the media or self-inflicted is a question only Fashanu himself can answer..."

What About Bob
No, not the movie, but a little history lesson in the battle with the litigious Church of Scientology. I don't know the full story on all the circumstances of the rise and fall of this well-off protester, but it does make for some intriguing reading.

From wikipedia: Minton spent over $10 million fighting Scientology. He also participated in demonstrations in front of the Boston Headquarters of the Church of Scientology near his Beacon Hill home.

• This included about $2 million he spent on the Lisa McPherson wrongful death case.
• Minton offered a reward of $360,000 to anyone who would leave Scientology with enough information to cause the organization to lose its federal tax exemption. The amount of money was based on the amount of money critics say Scientology charges for courses.
• On November 1997, he spent $260,000 to buy a house for a cat sanctuary for former Scientologists Vaughn and Stacy Young.
• Minton also has given money to a number of other church critics, including three people who Scientology accuses of infringement of its copyrights.

After reports by Scientology alleging fraud in his Nigerian businesses, Minton successfully sued two German Scientology entities and a spokeswoman for a permanent injunction preventing them from repeating the libel.

It is not exactly clear why Minton suddenly stopped his criticism of Scientology and attempted to stop the Lisa McPherson wrongful death case he had funded. Critics of Scientology believe that Minton was blackmailed by the Church of Scientology.

In contrast, Mark Bunker, a former worker of the LMT, wrote "Blackmail didn’t turn Bob to Scientology’s side. The relentless on-going global assault of Scientology wore Bob down, along with attacks from former friends who felt Bob wasn’t doing enough in funding the Lisa case."


You can find more about Bob Minton and the LMT from from Mark Bunker's site xenutv.com

PBS: Greater Boston - Bob Minton Interview Part 1



PBS: Greater Boston - Bob Minton Interview Part 2

Playing Whack-A-Mole With Scientology Ads

Scientology Carpet-Bombs Web with Google Ads
chexydecimal.blogspot.com: Noted Tom Cruise beneficiary The Church of Scientology has initiated a massive new round of online advertising; their latest attempt to garner fresh converts to the money-grubbing “religion.”

It's at least a change of pace from the Church's attempts to bury critics like xenu.net and Operation Clambake under a barrage of copyright infringement takedown notices and lawsuits. It appears that Google Adsense is serving up thousands of Scientology's messages all over the web.

The Church is letting the money from its overflowing coffers do the talking. Wired magazine reported in June that Scientology even managed to get Google Ads on the Wired.com web site, despite Wired’s explicit request to not carry Church of Scientology advertising on its site.

Adsense users all over the net have been unable to get a cogent response from Google regarding their apparent refusal to honor filters to prevent Scientology ads. A similar ad blitz occurred in early 2008.

Those who aren't blocking ads with Adblock Plus, the popular browser plug-in, will notice Scientology ads are even found right here on ODIT, where Scientology is routinely thrashed.

Such blanket advertising has been detrimental to the Church in the past, causing web users to grow irritated with Scientology's perceived sense of entitlement, proving that money doesn't always buy the opinions the Church would prefer.

If several million dollars worth of online ads doesn't work this time, they could always have Tom Cruise jump up and down on Oprah's couch again.

How to Block Scientology Ads from your Website
stuffbypaulbrown.com ...Up until today, none of my websites had featured any content that was in any way relevant to the Church of Scientology. And so there was no reason for Scientology ads to appear here. Also, like a lot of other website owners, I don’t want to use my webspace to promote this organisation.

If people want to believe in a religion founded by a science fiction writer – with the specific intention of making money – and based on sci-fi staples involving past lives, UFOs and alien overlords, then I have no particular problem with that. Each to their own.

If people want to believe in a space ruler called Xenu and ancient extraterrestrial societies called the Helatrobus and the Marcabians, and that when people die their souls go to the planet Venus to be re-planted into a new body and then dumped back on Earth in the ocean off the coast of California, then that is their prerogative. But I would rather they did not attempt to recruit members via my websites.

If you’re an AdSense user who is being plagued by Scientology ads, here’s how to block them using the competitive ad filter and the AdSense Preview Tool: [continued here]

Another Fake
Rather than have one of those Scientology flash movies playing, I thought I'd insert my own to inform the world, "What Is Scientology?"

Feel free to use any of the anti-scientology ads. To link to the St.Pete Times article, you can use the short link: http://url2it.com/baqe or copy the full address from this link: tampabay.com I haven't got around to playing Whack-A-Mole with Scientology's numerous URL's yet, but if you're curious how it can be accomplished, the article and link above will get you going in the right direction.

Google Blog Link On News Search Gone? [found]

I know it's a simple fix by creating a bookmark for blogsearch.google.com, but does anybody know what happened to the google blog search link that was on the google news search left column?

If I remember correctly, it was labeled a beta link, but I grew quite fond of it. This didn't happen recently, more like a month ago. Tried searching google news and blogs about it, but came up with zippo, nada, zilch.

Anybody?

[EDIT] Duuuhhhh, never mind. I found it. They just moved it to the base of the page above the "OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO"'s.