Video: Computation of Inside Edition's Lisa McPherson's Mystery Death ShortNews: Marty Rathbun, who says he was a high-ranking official in Scientology and handled the case of Lisa McPherson, a mentally ill member who died under the care of Scientology, said he destroyed incriminating evidence relating to her death. [The missing notes are described in the Inside Edition part 4 video below, at about 3;20]
Rathbun, who for years insisted that Scientology had done nothing wrong in the handling of McPherson's case, reversed his statements and said Scientology botched her case from the beginning. Scientology dismisses him as a bitter ex-employee.
Rathbun said he followed Scientology's doctrine of never admitting fault rather than going to the state attorney, as he first wanted to. He and others removed documentation from McPherson's file including an opinion that she needed to see a doctor.
Below are four parts to the Inside Edition news magazine's summary of what took place back in 1995. Lisa McPherson (February 10, 1959 – December 5, 1995) was a member of the Church of Scientology who died of a pulmonary embolism while under the care of the Flag Service Organization (FSO), a branch of the Church of Scientology.
Lisa McPherson's Mystery Death on Inside Edition 1 of 4
Lisa McPherson's Mystery Death on Inside Edition 2 of 4
Lisa McPherson's Mystery Death on Inside Edition 3 of 4
Lisa McPherson's Mystery Death on Inside Edition 4 of 4
and just about everybody else, sans the girl scouts. An anon over at WWP brought to our attention the publishing of a multi-part series on Scientology in Sweden by sydsvenskan.se.
" According to Scientology are the media and critics of the Church bought by the pharmaceutical industry. Tarja Vulto, as is information officer for the Scientology Church in the whole of Europe, also claims that the security services and the universities of Germany pays money to people for them to harass Scientology industries."
" It all began, according to the church, when the founder, L Ron Hubbards book Dianetik "became a bestseller in the U.S. in the early 1950s. The book led to the established psychiatric care felt threatened and began "a campaign" to "besmirch" and "get rid of Ron Hubbard.""
"It was through the Medical Association, which provides psychiatric association, via the tax authorities in USA and so on, "said Stig Andersson, info on the Scientology Church Malmö. "CIA, FBI ...," CHIME Tarja Vulto, "and so on and so forth. It is simply that the economic interests of pharmaceutical manufacturing is so huge, "said Stig Andersson. "
• Suspects, without sufficient basis, that others are exploiting, harming, or deceiving him or her. • Is preoccupied with unjustified doubts about the loyalty or trustworthiness of friends or associates. • Is reluctant to confide in others because of unwarranted fear that the information will be used maliciously against him or her. • Reads hidden demeaning or threatening meanings into benign remarks or events persistently bears grudges, i.e., is unforgiving of insults, injuries, or slights. • Perceives attacks on his or her character or reputation that are not apparent to others and is quick to react angrily or to counterattack.
death of lisa mcpherson is cult leader's titanic, that keeps resurfacing Earlier this week, the St. Petersburg Times did a special report on Scientology leader David Miscavige, but he couldn't find the time to do an interview that might affect the standing of his church, not to mention him personally.
After he was notified that the Times was going ahead with the printing without his input, he e-mailed a statement brow-beating them for not giving him a chance to "provide information annihilating the credibility of your sources". He goes on to say, "I am at a loss to comprehend how the St. Petersburg Times can publish a story about me and the religion I lead without accepting the offer to speak with me".
What David didn't realize, the Times also added the length of time he had been offered in a footnote: " Editor's note: The Times first requested an interview with Mr. Miscavige on May 13, and offered to meet with him in person, or interview him by telephone at any time since."
In more than a months time, he couldn't pick-up the phone to do a interview, but could arrange a"church spokesmen, executives, attorneys and others [to fly] in from around the country to meet with reporters in Clearwater. The parade started with ex-wives of the three male defectors. In 25 hours of meetings with reporters, the two church lawyers and two spokesmen extolled the accomplishments of David Miscavige and attacked the credibility of the defectors."
this was no accident of a busy schedule. this was policy.
• Before taking with any Scientology PR or executive, a journalist must know that he or she will be talking to a fanatic -- a person seeking to save the world. This is exactly what Scientologists believe they are doing. Moreover, unless you stand ready to print a Scientology story exactly as presented, you will be viewed as an enemy.
• Realize that when you are dealing with a PR or official of the Church of Scientology, religious image is not only a vital PR defense (the ecclesiastical equivalent of wrapping oneself in the flag) but is also crucial for tax-exemption purposes and for court cases. Thus the PR must be sure to demonstrate that Scientology is "an applied religious philosophy." The PR will have many documents to "prove the religious bona fides" of Scientology (but lack anything to the contrary -- such as decisions or rulings -- of which he may honestly not know) .
• Politicians are notorious for responding to a question without answering it; Scientology PRs practice the skill for hours on end. The PR will drill how to answer simple questions about Scientology, how to "no-answer" a question, how to stall for time, and how to attack. (According to the original material, this included shouting, banging the desk, pointing at the reporter, and swearing.) [listen to audio sample of Tommy Davis, church spokesman, below]
• Depending on your story angle, you can easily find yourself buried by packs of documentation. Some are called "DA [dead agent] packs." Hubbard took the phrase from Sun-tzu's "The Art of War," in which different types of agents are described. The "dead agent" is the one who is caught in a lie. The "DA pack" is supposed to counter a lie (thereby rendering the liar "dead" as a credible source) and usually addresses a particular document, from a newspaper article to a book. It is also used to discredit a person or a group that may be a source of criticism of Scientology. A DA pack can include anything from Hubbard's writings to a piece of press to an affidavit obtained by a private investigator. The purpose is to refute the targeted piece, person or group at virtually any cost. If the article presents no clear-cut falsehoods or errors but paints Scientology in an unfavorable light, the DA becomes a general reply (usually an attack on the source) that may be issued as a pamphlet, an ad, or an article. In Scientology, only trained PRs are supposed to talk to the press. If an exception is made, it will be only those that are proofed up or drilled or have a proven track record of talking to the media about Scientology, and then it is often with a PR present.
Another recent example of the Scientology-Run-Around is documented in Nathan Baca's blog (of KESQ News3) while trying to get an interview/tour scheduled at Golden Era Productions, Miscavige's home, earlier this year. Well, that never happened, but they did end up in Los Angeles interviewing, none other than, Tommy Davis. Small world.
the miscavige interview was never going to happen
The Lisa McPherson debacle that was all bought and paid for was about to resurface. And Miscavige was going to be queried on it.
Her death on Dec. 5, 1995, triggered nine years of investigations, lawsuits and worldwide press coverage. Alive on the Internet, it stains Scientology’s reputation still. Rathbun, who defected from Scientology’s staff in late 2004, admits that as prosecutors and attorneys for McPherson’s family prepared subpoenas, he ordered the destruction of incriminating evidence about her care at the Fort Harrison.
He and others who have left the church disclose for the first time that Miscavige was involved in McPherson’s Scientology counseling. Just weeks before her mental breakdown, they say, it was the leader himself who determined that she had reached an enhanced mental state that Scientologists call “clear.’’
The full story can be viewed in Death in Slow Motion: Part 2 of 3 in a special report on the Church of Scientology.
The Story Behind David Miscavige, Marty Rathburn and Lisa McPherson
A smiling storefront, a darker interior tampabay.com/news/: Either several former ranking, long-term members of the Church of Scientology have all simultaneously decided to lie to the St. Petersburg Times, in a thorough, orchestrated and masterful conspiracy…
Or else they are not lying, and they confirm that the church is led by a man, David Miscavige, with serious issues of power and paranoia, even given to not-infrequent physical attacks, all of which permeate the culture of the church's upper echelons.
The articles in the Times these past three days by my colleagues Joe Childs and Thomas C. Tobin have been extraordinary. We haven't had a look inside a religious organization like this since Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker, or the Rev. Henry J. Lyons.
Let's make a distinction here between the church's doctrine, what it claims to be teaching, and the practices documented in these articles, which veer into the surreal.
The street-level message of Scientology actually is pretty standard: We have a spiritual essence; we are imperfect; through the religion's guidance we can improve.
True, Scientology refers to this essence as a "thetan" and requires the believer to hook up to a meter to be measured, which is not my cup of tea. But then again, neither do I believe in reincarnation, the karmic wheel, or that I have to obey all 613 commandments in the Old Testament, although I do not disrespect people who do.
Anyway, lots of people say their lives have been improved by Scientology, and I believe them. Any external structure can be an improvement for people who need it. But as these articles by Childs and Tobin show, at its higher levels Scientology is more of an insidious loyalty cult than a benign self-help society. And the punishment for being disloyal is severe. Frankly, a lot of the church's reaction to its apostates has been histrionic and weird. (As for the ex-Scientologists, I have mixed feelings, since they used to perpetuate with a vengeance the same tactics to which they are now victim).
Come on — bringing in their ex-spouses, still in the church, to denounce them? Publicizing the bizarre, ritualized "confessions" that the church makes its people write for "ethics files"? For a while, Scientology tried to appear reassuringly beyond such tactics. No more.
CNN on David Miscavige, leader of Scientology CNN HLN from June 22, 09 on David Miscavige, leader of Scientology. Former Church of Scientology members report that Miscavige has spawned a culture of brutality by beating his underlings and encouraging them to attack others. This is based on a recent special report from the St. Petersburg Times.
church stoops to releasing members confessionals to counter Gawker: The St. Petersburg Times is running a massive report on Scientology, focusing on leader David Miscavige and high-ranking defectors spilling on him. Revealed: Miscavige's sadistic temper. Like when he made staffers play 'violent' musical chairs, scored to Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody."
Scientology sat down with St. Petersburg Times reporters for 25 hours trying to debunk the defectors' tales of Miscavige. They even went to far to prepare them binders of the private confessions and ethics files - yeah, ethics files - of former members. One commenter writes in on their website: "As a former Scientologist of 20 years, its sad to see that the chruch would stoop to using members confessionals against them. How can anyone trust anything they say if they violate their own teachings."
tampabay.com: On May 13, the Times asked to interview Miscavige, in person or by phone, and renewed the request repeatedly the past five weeks. Church officials said Miscavige's schedule would not permit an interview before July.
At 5:50 p.m. Saturday, Miscavige e-mailed the Times to protest the newspaper's decision to publish instead of waiting until he was available. His letter said he would produce information "annihilating the credibility'' of the defectors.
What triggered Miscavige's outbursts? The victims usually had no clue. "If it wasn't the answer he wanted to hear, he'd lose it," De Vocht said. "If it was contrary to how he thought, he'd lose it. If he found it to be smart aleck, or it was a better answer than he had, he would lose it."
Rathbun and Rinder list the executives they saw Miscavige attack:
• Marc Yager: At least 20 times.
• Guillaume Lesevre: At least 10 times.
• Ray Mithoff: Rathbun said Miscavige "would regularly hit this guy open-handed upside the head real hard and jar him. Or grab him by the neck and throw him on the floor."
• Norman Starkey: "Right in the parking lot, (Miscavige) just beat the living f--- out of him, got him on the ground and then started kicking him when he was down,'' Rathbun said.
• He said he saw Rinder "get beat up at least a dozen times just in those last four years … some of them were pretty gruesome."
• Said Rinder: "Yager was like a punching bag. So was I."
• He added: "The issue wasn't the physical pain of it. The issue was the humiliation and the domination. ... It's the fact that the domination you're getting — hit in the face, kicked — and you can't do anything about it. If you did try, you'd be attacking the COB.
• "It was random and whimsical. It could be the look on your face. Or not answering a question quickly. But it always was a punishment.''
• Scobee said Miscavige never laid a hand on her or any other woman, but she witnessed many attacks, including the time the leader choked Rinder until his face turned purple. Rinder confirmed that account.
• De Vocht estimated that from 2003 to 2005, he saw Miscavige strike staffers as many as 100 times.
Rathbun, Rinder and De Vocht admit that they, in turn, hit others. In January 2004, Rathbun pummeled Rinder and had to be pried off by several church staffers.
"Yes, that incident happened," Rinder said. "It wasn't the only time that Marty or I was involved in some form of physical violence with people."
He recalled holding a church staffer against a wall by the collar and pressing into his throat.
Rathbun said he attacked many people, many times, including throwing Lesevre across a table, boxing Starkey's ears, and tackling Yager down a flight of stairs — all, he said, on Miscavige's orders. He said he threw another staffer against the hood of a cab at Los Angeles International Airport. As a crowd gathered to watch, he cocked his fist and told him to improve his attitude.
De Vocht said he "punched a couple of guys" during one of many sessions where managers confessed their wrongdoings to their peers, a gathering that got raucous and physical. Embarrassed about it now, he says he easily rationalized it then: "If I don't attack I'm going to be attacked. It's a survival instinct in a weird situation that no one should be in."
The four defectors each said the leader established a culture that encouraged physical violence.
Scientology: The Truth Rundown Part 1 of 3 in a special report on the Church of Scientology
Update: truthrundown.org URL
The URL shortcut, truthrundown.org that was purchased by tampabay.com for their on going Scientology special report expired and was bought and mothballed by an unknown entity.
Domain Name:TRUTHRUNDOWN.ORG
Created On:21-Jun-2009 19:36:04 UTC
Last Updated On:08-Jul-2010 04:50:04 UTC
Expiration Date:21-Jun-2011 19:36:04 UTC
Registrant Name:PSYCHIATRISTS UNLIMITED
The following URL-shortcut, truthrundown.shows.it has been setup to replace the above defunct link to ensure a recoginizable transition and ease of reaching tampabay's continuing coverage of David Miscavage and Scientology.
this isn't your fathers revolution, this is the Rev2.0 blogs.nytimes: Google said Friday that it was adding Persian, or Farsi, to the languages it is able to translate to and from automatically through the Google Translate service.
The company said it hoped the service, which it rushed because of the turmoil in Iran, would be used by people inside and outside of that country to communicate and stay abreast of events. The service is available at translate.google.com.
“There is a huge amount of interest about the events in Iran,” said Franz Och, principal scientist at Google, who has been leading the development of Google Translate. “We hope that this tool will improve access to information in Iran and outside,” Mr. Och said in an interview.
In a blog post, Mr. Och warned that the service is not perfect, so mistakes are possible. It is optimized to translate between Persian and English, but Google is working on improving translation between Persian and the other languages in Google Translate.
This will certainly take a load off iWWP's translation section that was run by volunteers. But you can still request/pick up translated (sub-titled, not voice-over) YouTube videos. Anonymous-Iran still has it's server problems today, disappearing at times, but recovering much more quickly than yesterday.
latimesblogs.latimes.com: A reporter at a Pentagon news briefing asked both Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates and Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, about the effect of new personal communication technology and social networking, specifically concerning Iran.
Gates recalled the role that the Internet played in penetrating the old Iron Curtain, helping the Soviet Union to crumble and liberating Eastern Europe from Communist domination. And Gates noted, with apparent pleasure, that some unnamed countries around the world (can you say Iran and China?) can try to block these evolving communications but can no longer shut them all down.
Gates admitted he hasn't "a clue." Mullen says he's on Facebook and Twitter to be connected to the younger volunteer armed forces. Video below provided by C-SPAN.
Oh, and what's Scientology doing during all this freedom upheaval going on around the globe? Using their OT super-powers to quell the conflict in Iran? Nope. Lending their language translation skills that they are known for boasting of. Nope. I guess they just haven't figured out how to make a buck out of this situation yet, because alls they're promoting is their new video website that contains Meet a Scientologistpropaganda. Maybe Tom Cruise hasn't seen the picture of this accident. Because we all know, now, that Tom is the only one that can help.
i don't want to be an american (media) idiot I was reading this thread at iWWP, and the first thing that popped into my head was, American Idiot, by Green Day. The song just seems to make sense on soooooo many levels today:
Posted by Unregistered Why our european newspapers says nothing, and put the page "iran" after Clinton's wife that falls down and breaks an arm?? I WANT TO KNOW WHATS HAPPENING! Not hear about Berlusconi's girls. What is more important in information? The true news or the gossip?? In the constitution there is the right to be informed in what's happening. We want this right!! Always near you all, people.
Reply by Unregistered: The American press has been just as bad. CNN was finally shamed into covering the events (see Twitter Users Shame CNN [current.com]), but the Associated Press isn't even reporting on it aside from a few scant updates about "oh hey there was a protest." I encourage people to send some messages to @APNews and ask why they aren't covering the events in Iran. They're just aiding the censorship by refusing to report.
yep, this is the same group you thought just did rick-rolls & ate 'caek' Photos provided by IWWP/roozbehk of people gathering in emam khomeini square 18/6/2009. These, other photos, videos and torrents are available at this clearinghouse site.
news.cnet.com: A new generation of Iranians has found ways to bypass the country's notoriously censorial Internet restrictions and disseminate details about Iran's internal turmoil in the wake of the recent elections.
In technical circles, at least, Iran is well-known for erecting one of the world's most restrictive Internet blockades, second only to China in its scope. Certain blogs are cordoned off, politically unacceptable keywords are blocked, and Web sites like Facebook, MySpace, Flickr, the BBC, and YouTube remain--at least at the moment--off-limits.
One of the groups taking part is Anonymous, an online activist group best known for its clashes with the Church of Scientology. The organisation is providing a forum to "serve as an avenue of communication between Iranians, their families abroad and other interested parties from across the internet".
Other efforts to avoid state censorship are being led by individuals around the globe. In San Francisco, a man named Austin Heap is leading an effort to keep Iranians safely posting information about the protests.
The forum, iran.whyweprotest.net, which is also backed by the Pirate Bay and links users to proxy servers to avoid detection, allows users to post photos and information on protests, and provides a missing persons database. An IT director by trade, Heap has been co-ordinating an effort through his blog to help users set up and maintain proxy servers to allow access to systems within Iran.
The effort is part of what has become an unprecedented online campaign in support of the protestors. Shortly after the demonstrations began, users took to blogs and Twitter in an effort to relay information from within the country and coordinate efforts against the standing government regime.
The site has also attracted it's share of trolls, 9-11 truthers, and just bothersome thread hijackers whose sole purpose is to disrupt the flow of information. I must say, they are doing a great job keeping all the spamming at bay. Not deleting it, mind you, but won't tolerate thread after thread of the same copypasta.
Today's Protest: Tehran Karim Khan Bridge 18 June Tazahorat
This forum is for sharing tools, tactics, proxies, and news with people in Iran. There is an updated list of proxy machines which users in Iran can use to get past blocks. Anonymous is setting up proxies for Iran, and calls on people over the world to follow their example - these proxies should be limited to only allow contact from Iran, to stop spam from the outside world. The forum has more information.
Among the tools which the site promotes is TOR The Onion Router, but it needs to be understood that this is not a magic tool and it needs to be set up correctly to work. The forum describes how this tool must be set up. Anonymous calls on people all over the world to set up TOR exit nodes for Iran, and to monitor these against abuse. Please check your local terms of service and your local laws.
We salute anonymous, pirate bay, and the other internet-friendly forces that are backing this endeavor. As of this morning, their site has been up and down sporadically, from the extra server load , I'm assuming.
As for Tom's UFO church that just released an ad campaign about truth, I don't see them lifting a finger to help. Oh, that's right. They're not interested unless they can exploit a situation, or make a buck out of the deal. Most ethical people on the planet, my ass.
Scientology Hates Psychiatry, But Loves Its Ads Ahhh, Yes. The old exploding volcano ad. Pretty cheesy. But now Scientology just released an ad that's as slick as a prescription drug ad (those people that Scientology is so dead-set against).
From bnet.com: The ad shows a bunch of white and Asian people lost in the anomie of everyday life — looking out of the window during a school exam, surrounded by a crowd at Grand Central in New York — as a thoughful voiceover intones:
We’re all looking for it … that unexplainable emptiness that can only be filled with one thing …
Gawker thinks the ad is “deeply creepy” and looks like an Effexor ad. They also go on to show how Scientology's web traffic has increased since the ad came out. Word around the watercooler is, a click fraud campaign has been going on to run-up Scientology's advertising bill. Kind of like a mild DDOS that they have to pay for, lol.
But someone else has latched on to Scientology's new found slickee-ness to promote their own agenda: Chanology. Yes, the boys in black are back. They've taken the vaguely-worded feel-good ad, and spun it around for their own use. See below:
telegraph.co.uk: An attractive Colombian woman was pursuing him over the internet, smitten by his wealth and power and keen to travel to Cuba to meet the man of her dreams. Over eight months their romance blossomed online, each subsequent exchange in chat rooms or via email becoming more passionate and sexually charged.
But like so many relationships forged in cyberspace, all was not as it seemed.
Claudia Valencia was really a prankster in Miami named Luis Dominguez, whose public humiliation of the communist dictator's Lothario son has caused much merriment among South Florida's sizeable Cuban-American community.
Mr Dominguez, who was born in Cuba, says he organized the sting to expose the hypocrisy of a country that lavishes luxuries on its leaders while repressing its own public.
In the transcripts, Castro, 40, boasts of spending weekends in the upmarket Cuban resort of Varadero, of shopping trips for expensive designer clothes and of his travels across the world in his role as physician to the Cuban baseball team. He also sent 'Claudia' photographs of himself at the Beijing Olympics, and said how he looked forward to being with her, despite being engaged to a 26-year-old TV producer in Havana.
Mr Dominguez said he invented the virtual persona of Claudia, a 26-year-old sports journalist with dark hair and blonde highlights, after studying photographs of Castro's former girlfriends. Apparently, he has never heard of Chris Hansen from Dateline, either. lol.
todays nor'easter to test scientology's disaster preparedness The Scientologists are once again boasting of their 09 hurricane season scientology disaster response preparation, but there's a storm blowing in their direction of the likes that hasn't been seen a year. Yes, Chanology has launched Sea Arrrgh II for this month's protest theme. You can check the results in WWP's post-hurricane thread later today.
June 13, 2009 Clearwater, FL - In this month of June 2009, Anonymous launches OPERATION CRUISE CONTROL, also christened as Sea Arrrgh II, an international event which brings attention to abuses in the Sea Org, the management structure of the Church of Scientology. Child labor, coerced abortions, harsh working conditions, human trafficking, cruel punishment, disconnection of families and mind control are some of the conditions which Sea Org members are made to endure. The Sea Arrrgh, a horde of mighty anonymous internet pirates, call attention to such abuses while partying hard as only a pirate can.
Punishment methods in use in the Scientology Sea Org even include overboarding, which on land is done by dunking the person in water or forcing them to jump into a lake. When the Sea Org had more ships, people were thrown into the sea without even using a plank, which put them in danger of hitting the ship's protruding hull. A more long term punishment method is the Rehabilitation Project Force, where Sea Org members spend months and years doing hard physical labor as a method of thought reform.
Today, children as young as 12 years old are taken as full time Sea Org members, which start on the Estates Project Force. In the past, there was also a Cadet Org for under-12 children; these children were raised with virtually no contact with their parents; the Cadet Org was disbanded as unnecessary when abortions were made mandatory for Sea Org women.
The Sea Org's only ship still afloat is the M/V Freewinds. In 2008, unwitting construction workers were exposed to the dangerous cancer-causing blue asbestos on the ship; this happened despite the ship's owners being aware of the asbestos since they bought the ship in the 1980s. It was apparently not a concern for Scientology, because they couldn't find any writings where L. Ron Hubbard said asbestos was dangerous.
The Sea Arrrgh's efforts have not been in vain. There are currently 3 lawsuits being levied against CoS Intl regarding Sea Org labor violations, a Supreme Court appeal designed to strip CoS of their illegal tax status or give the same tax benefits to others (08-9180 cert. conference June 25th), multiple lawsuits against WISE businesses for forcing Hubbard's "Tech" upon their employees, and a wrongful death suit. France and Belgium are also putting Scientology on trial for fraud. You can read more about these items at tinyurl.com/lawlsuits
About The Sea Arrrgh The Sea Arrrgh, also known as Anonymous, is a disorganized gaggle of individuals that are currently protesting the abuses of the Scientology Organization. Anonymous maintains professional standards in audio equipment.
More information and news is available at whyweprotest.net and seaarrrgh.com
interveiw with sam bass, designer of nascar/nashville prized trophy tennessean.com Kyle Busch always has bucked the system, embracing the notoriety that comes with being NASCAR's newest bad boy. He doesn't care if race fans dislike him — and boy, do they ever — and he makes no apologies for knocking people out of his way en route to Victory Lane. His rejection of conformity is genuine, and Busch does everything he can to avoid being grouped as just another politically correct NASCAR driver shilling for a sponsor.
So if he's aware of the growing backlash surrounding his guitar-smashing celebration after a Nationwide Series win at Nashville Superspeedway, it's doubtful Busch even cares.
But this time, even his most ardent supporters wonder if Busch went too far.
See, it wasn't just any guitar that Busch whacked three times against the ground before tossing the chipped steel instrument aside. No, it was a revered Gibson Les Paul guitar that had been hand-painted by longtime NASCAR artist Sam Bass and has become the symbol of Nashville Speedway.
On Monday, however, Bass told NASCAR Scene he was heartbroken to see Busch destroy the trophy.
"It was stunning, absolutely stunning to see that thing destroyed within seconds of him getting it," Bass told Scene. "It's his trophy, he can choose to do with it what he wants. But I'm not going to lie about it. If he had asked me, 'Hey, I'm thinking about destroying that trophy guitar whenever I win it, what do you think?' Of course I would have told him, 'No! Please don't. Let us give you a prop guitar.' "
In an interview with WSMV Channel4 News, Nashville, Bass tells how he approached Kyle after the incident to ask him "what he was thinking". When I took a picture with Kyle as I traditionally do, the first thing he said to me was that there was no disrespect to me or the trophy or the speedway or any of the sponsors," Bass pointed out. "He just said that he told his guys that he was going to give each one of them a piece of the trophy whenever he won the guitar.
While Busch’s explanation may have made Bass feel better, it was the talk of the garage in Pocono Sunday morning. Many viewed his actions as highly disrespectful and disgraceful.
Asked at the end of the interview , the commentator found it was worth between $25-30 thousand dollars.
WSMV Interviews Sam Bass After 'Busch Guitar-Smashing' Incident
defies scientology, acknowledges late son's autism. or does he? John Travolta has entered a variation of the paradox known as George Costanza's Worlds Collide Theory.
Gawker.com: According to a Bahamian police report taken in February after his son Jett's death last year, Travolta acknowledged in his own words that "Jett suffered from a seizure disorder and was autistic." That's a big no-no in Scientology.
The report was obtained by the National Enquirer. Travolta's use of the term "autistic" seems to be a break from church doctrine, which teaches that pyschiatric diagnoses are fake ailments invented by Nazi psychiatrists so they can give people drugs to keep them from realizing their true potential of controlling the physical world with their minds.
Prior to Jett's death, his parents, John Travolta and Kelly Preston attributed his problems to a rare disorder called Kawasaki disease and to environmental toxins from carpet-cleaners. They claimed that a Scientological detoxification regime had helped to ease his symptoms.
Whooops. Worlds colliding.
Which is it? The world of Scientology where this problem could be handled with some auditing and vitamins? or the real world, where autism is considered a psychiatric disorder described in DSM-IV, psychiatry's diagnostic bible.
Travolta may have taken time off from promoting the newly released Pelham123, but being a Scientology spokesperson, will instead have to face the publics interest regarding the taking of Jett, PARODOX123 conundrum.
For more on this you can either visit Glosslip or if prefer more of a back-story, explore the threads at WWP.
all of this stuff in science fiction is just rococo You take a glance at the text and videos below, you might say, what is all this retro sci-fi crap? This is stuff I'd find in a '$1 takes the whole pile' bin at a yard sale. No, my friend, you're reading and listening to excerpts of Scientology's secret scriptures. Yes, normally you'd have to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to learn of this media. Let's take a peek behind the curtain.
L.Ron Hubbard: You wouldn't dare write real science fiction - not real science fiction. Nobody's guts could take it, that's all there is to that.
All right. Now, as I say, this sounds science-fictiony. Well, don't let it sound science-fictiony to you, because the truth be told, it's not science fiction. In the first place, it's not fiction, and it really isn't very closely resembling what you read and call science fiction. Science fiction is just a very chimerical sort of a picture of it. Space is wild! There aren't any writers down here and there's no audience down here that could take *real* stuff about space. It's wild! And ...
Well, let me tell you a little story. This isn't just a story. One of the Fifth Invader Force, an officer, came down here to take a survey, and this is very adventurous. And in order to take a decent survey of the place - of course, you understand the Fifth Invader Force officer carries a doll. They don't carry bodies, they carry dolls. Their identification is a doll. It's a very little, flimsy, mechanical affair that you can make talk and walk and so forth. They're cute, they're about a meter tall, they're very light. Therefore, you don't need, you see - you don't use oxygen in saucers. And all of this stuff in science fiction is just rococo. Boy, it's rococo beyond rococo. It's just simple beyond simplicity.
L. Ron Hubbard's Space Station 33artoo45 The pulp fiction origins of $cientology are not just batshit crazy, but danceable batshit crazy. Space is WILD!
Over ABC Entertainment, Kathy Griffin lists five things you (supposedly) didn't know about her.
The Emmy-award winning comedian recently revealed to ABCNews.com five things no one knows about her. Are they all 100-percent true? Well, no -- but that doesn't make her confessions any less juicy. Clearly, after four seasons on "The D-List," Griffin's learned that the key to gaining more street cred in Hollywood is stirring up a scandal or two.
Coming in at No.5, I'm on a Scientology Watch List
"I have been told that I am on a Scientology watch list as one of the foremost people that makes fun of Scientology. This, of course, makes me almost as happy as bringing Suze Orman my financials. I'm perfectly comfortable being on any watch list. It means at least someone's watching me. You'll never be able to confirm that in a million years. It's just something I've been told."
I wouldn't be surprised if she were, being the church is so litigious. A sample of Griffin's work, you can view a bit from the MSG WaMu Theater on 1/29/08 and her take on Scientology! She rips on the dianetics basics including the auditing process & e-meters, course fee scams, celebrity blackmail, batshit purif process, going clear, alien body thetans and other random hilarity.
rank & file scientologists coverup suicide with head-on collision yarn 5/29 Monterey County Herald "Los Angeles man dies after fall from bridge. The body of a Los Angeles man, who apparently leaped to his death from the Highway 1 Bixby Bridge on the Big Sur Coast, was discovered Thursday. A hiker found Stephen Brackett, 54, about 5:30a.m., said Dan Robison, a detective with the Monterey County Sheriff's Coroner division.
Brackett, who was supposed to be visiting friends, disappeared Sunday. Robison said Brackett died from injuries suffered after the nearly 200-foot fall from the bridge. There are no indications of foul play, and friends and relatives of Brackett said he was despondent because of financial troubles with his business, Robison said.
Steve Brackett was to marry Nancy Cartwright, a Scientologist that is famous for the voice of Bart Simpson, in spring of 2008, but that was canceled sometime after the fall of 2007. From Variety AUGUST 2007 "...Cartwright will wed high-end general contractor Steve Brackett. The only two words she revealed about the wedding ceremony: 'MARCHING BANDS'..."
Rank and file Scientologists have decided to lie about Brackett’s death by saying he died in a head-on collision. This is being done to protect the belief system of Scientology, as it is believed by Scientologists that Brackett possessed supernatural abilities due to his achieving the church’s exalted state of OT. The state of OT, according to the church’s pseudo-science, is a state where one is “knowing and willing cause over life, thought, matter, energy, space and time.”
Unfortunately, Brackett had run into trouble on various construction projects and recently lost several arbitration settlements, one of which cost him $300,000. He was scheduled to go to Flag, Scientology’s top church, soon, as a plane ticket had been purchased. More than likely, this visit was intended to help him sort out his recent woes using Scientology’s expensive pseudo-science counseling techniques.
As of 2006, he was listed in IAS as GOLD MERITORIOUS $1 MILLION donor (IMPACT #115). The minister also informed those in attendance at the funeral that Brackett used Scientology administrative principles in his business and how he donated heavily to the church. Steve and Nancy Cartwright are listed as major IAS donors. He was also a major donor and spokesman for the Super Power Project (note: a key contributor is a $100,000.00 DONATION).
To sum up, another scientologist spends all kinds of money to get on Hubbard's Bridge to Total Freedom only in the end, to jump off it.
Nancy Cartwright, the voice of Bart Simpson and a devoted scientologist, is using her trademark cartoon voice as part of a robocall encouraging people to attend a Scientology event in Los Angeles. The original video with Bart images was yanked from YouTube, which says that it was "no longer available due to a copyright claim by Twentieth Century Fox." They sure found that infringement a lot faster than usual. No worries, here's the audio [left] without the cartoons.
hubbard's 'most ethical people on the planet' developing a violent pattern Their latest PR headline? Church of Scientology disaster response prepares for the 2009 Season. Yep. They've got disasters , alright. PR disasters all over the planet. And the latest, yesterday, a second assault against an Anonymous protester in Washington, DC within the past three months.
Here's the low-down from Hubbard-Telescope (not her real name) herself from WWP: "...Then, out of the blue, I see this hand come out of no where and some angry screaming Scientologist man reaching for my mask. He starts yelling "HOW DARE YOU WRITE THIS CRAP IN FRONT OF MY CHURCH" and tears off my mask, cracking it and hurting my nose and throwing it up on the landing of the church. He gets in my face pushing and hitting me, telling me he knows what I look like now and they'll come after me.
Scientologists leaving the org after course surrounded us and just watched, one woman taking pictures from the steps as he attacked me. I didn't raise my hands or defend myself or say anything besides "Taking pictures of me? Really?"
Finally, another Scientologist got between us and restrained him while I fished out my phone and called 911. He started on about "FINE! Call the police on me!" and took off. I followed him a little ways on the phone with the police, but he turned the corner and I decided to head back and wait for the cops. The rest of the Scientologists all scattered...."
She describes her assailant as a "...guy is in his 50s about 5ft 8 - 5 ft 11. He has graying and balding hair and was last seen in a blue polo shirt tucked into blue jeans...". And she adds,"... I will be going through every video and every picture we ever took, I will find him, I will identify him, and I will make sure he is prosecuted...."
Update: While I was writing this, over at WWP [about pg 28 in the thread], they may have a face and a name. They're still sorting it out as of this writing.
And that is exactly how Anonymous ID'd this assailant back in April, when a protester, Ron Jeremy (not real name) was kicked by an irate scientologist. This also reported by Hubbard-Telescope:
"...A Scientologist named Reinhard Koenig [see photo] assaulted a NYC anon visiting in DC today. Ron Jeremy from NYC was playing music and enturbulating when the very old man came out of the Scientology building, kicked him in the shin, and walked to the corner.
When Ron Jeremy expressed his shock and outrage, the old Scientologist hurried back into the cult building. There WAS a camera rolling, but the particular camera on in that area suffered technologyfail which was the fault of no one but the camera. :( Anonymous called the police who showed up in record time to take his statement and swarmed into the CoS building to look for him. The Scios scooted the old guy out the back and he headed off down the street. Police were alerted to his fleeing the scene and tried to find him, but weren't able to spot the guy.
Scientologists claimed that Anonymous antagonized the Scios and "chased" them down the street. A well placed "I'm too fat to chase anyone" made the cops lol and pissed off the Scientology spokeswoman Sylvia Stanard. :) The cops were absolutely fantastic. They weren't able to corroborate the report since no other non-protester in the area witnessed the attack and it became a he-said he-said debate between the assaulted anon and the Scio shills....".
Information gleaned from WWP threads [1] [2] and YouTube videos [1] [2]
scientology's cincinnati church moves out of state
Back in April, the kypost.com reported that Ben Kasle, a 21 year old man, was arrested for having sex with a teenager at the Church of Scientology in Downtown Cincinnati. Ben Kasle was charged with two counts of gross sexual imposition. Investigators say he had sex with the girl who is now 14-years-old. Police records indicate the alleged offenses happened at the church on Fourth Street between October 2007 and September 2008.
On June 4th, Kasle had his day in court. Of the two counts of Sexual Imposition [2907.06] pending against him, he was found guilty of one and the second was dismissed after pleading nolo contendere (no contest).
Sentencing date is not available at this time. In Ohio, this charge is considered an M-3 misdemeanor. Kasle could face up to 60 days in prison and a fine of $500 and would also have to register as a sex offender.
In related news,as reported by kypost.com the Cincinnati Scientology center where Kasle's offense was reported to have occurred, is leaving the state and moving to Florence, KY. setting up in a building formerly owned by the Florence Baptist Church.
I wonder if they moved " because it has outgrown its location on West Fourth Street in downtown Cincinnati" or if they are trying to distance themselves from the above incident. None of this has appeared in the local news, so I wouldn't be surprised if a certain church is hoping all this will blow over as long as it's kept hush-hush.
Anonymous is once again gearing up for their monthly global protest against the church of scientology. The first global they used a centralized theme and message, but as time has gone by, diversity seems to be the game plan, and a lot more efficient.
Most protests are being held next weekend, and seems most are falling back on the SeaAargh (parody of scientology's SeaOrg) pirate theme.
At any rate, a reminder went out this weekend for those over-achieving anons that might have forgotten how far into the month we are. This video borrows from Southwest's latest Grab Your Bag, It's On' ad.
Created by Southwest's longtime advertising agency, GSD&M in Austin, Texas, the new spots lack the punch lines and laugh-out-loud humor of past campaigns. That's because they're intended for a more sober time, Southwest officials say.
To me, I think it demonstrates how information could get passed around in a non-group setting. No executive committee, no quality control manager. Steering committee. CEO. Nope, not here. Just a big herd of cats. And one of their names is Jimmy, as you'll find out in the video below:
