Monthly Archives: October 2010

Three generations in St Louis, gone with the wind

 

Meshell Little (Powers) – Jim Little – Heather Powers – Edie Fields

Are Publicly Leaving the Church of Scientology

This is the story of Jim Little, Meshell Little (Powers), Heather Powers and grandmother, Edie Fields of St. Louis, Missouri. This is the real story of how we went from being 22-year veteran scientologists to quietly resigning from the structure known as the Church of Scientology on June 29, 2010. This action quickly culminated with the St. Louis Org declaring us SP’s on October 21, 2010. This declare, as I will go over, consisted of generalities, complete lies, assumptions stated as facts, situations twisted up neatly to appear as one, dropped out time (fully handled 13 years ago) all mixed with one percent truth – and completely written with the intention of discrediting to make us look evil. This is the thanks we got for all our years of supporting this organization. That’s not all though. They got my son!

On October 24, 2010 my 19-year-old son, Jeremy Powers, told me, his little sister, Heather and step-dad Jim that he could no longer have any association with us until we “came to our senses and recanted our misdeeds”. He originated that he knew we weren’t really suppressive and he knew it wasn’t right that he was being forced to disconnect. He said he had no choice because he had argued all he could to get someone to see that “forced (ultimatum) disconnection” was wrong, especially when it came to family. He said he tried to get them to see that if he ever felt we were suppressing him, he would decide on his own to disconnect, per PTS/SP tech. It is our opinion that only the most evil and arrogant of groups would practice this type of family destruction, especially against people who only want to walk away.

Since he and I have always been close, this act of cruelty, on his part, is beyond my ability to comprehend. I’ve been the one always there for him, loving him with open arms, granting him huge beingness, and protecting him from invalidation & harm. All of us fully supported his right to decide to stay with the church when he knew we were all leaving it. Make NO MISTAKE ABOUT THIS, I easily could have turned him to our side – I just wasn’t sure it was the best decision. So we supported him and ensured he had funds on his account to move forward as he wished. (Major error on our part!)

He was totally manipulated with THREAT OF LOSS. He said if he didn’t disconnect he would lose his girlfriend, his place to live, his car, his job and he wouldn’t get his bridge. He was told by the St. Louis Ethics officer that it was his choice, but if he chose to stay connected he would be declared. He cried when he left our house that day, but nothing like I cried, I’m sure. I don’t even know if he realizes the pain of a mother losing her child. He’s likely being indoctrinated to believe that we are all JUST THETANS and it is a “fake” mother/son relationship anyway. I say this because on occasions when Sea Org folks were trying to recruit my children, they told me, “they are thetans, not YOUR children”!

My mother, Edie Fields, was pressured to disconnect as well – even before we were declared – and she let them know that she would never ever disconnect from her daughter & granddaughter. She told them that she was disconnecting from THEIR suppressive actions.

Jim, Heather, Edie and I are coming to terms with the fact that we are now the victims of what we had defended and protected for years. My child, being manipulated with a threat of loss, has immediately and obediently started blocking me from his life, as if I don’t exist anymore. He’s changed his phone number and blocked us from his Facebook – eliminating us as his family. Eliminated. Gone. Sadly, he calls it his “personal integrity”.

Well, Church of Scientology, the gloves have come off. THE MOST DANGEROUS PLACE TO BE IS BETWEEN A MOTHER AND HER CHILD, and you have so arrogantly placed yourself right there.

Until you issued the SP Declare, full of slander and lies about me, then manipulated my son to disown us – I was willing to silently go about my way. I was willing to never talk about Scientology to Jeremy and I was willing to let him choose the religion of his choice and make his own decisions. He has that basic human right, you know! I knew that my compromise would be that I would be silent about my opinions going forward, in order to not provoke the church – but NO – that was not good enough. Do you really think I will walk away with my tail between my legs, whimpering and sad? Do you really think I will just give up my son and not say anything about it? Are you all completely void of humanity? Read below of the mayhem *cough* we caused to bring this wrath of a “church” upon us.

Jim and I had been in Scientology for 22 years. I served on staff for 5 of those years, first holding the post of HAS then being promoted to the senior executive post of Flag Banking Officer (right before it became a SO post). Pretty much my auditing level consists of Grade 0, FPRD basic and 1D list, and lots security checking! On top of that, I’ve had a lot of admin training, including a few mini hats, OEC Vol 0, FP Member Full Hat and M9 word clearing the entire finance series. As an FBO, during the big IRS tax exemption, I implemented the entire Treasury/INCOMM program after the IRS awarded the tax exemption. Jim has been mainly public, finishing his STCC, Student Hat, TR’s/Objectives, volunteer activities with CCHR & other 4thD campaigns. He had a few brief times on staff in the 90’s and recently in 2008. My mom Edie (now 70 years old) had been on staff for 10 years, and buying her auditing at staff rates. She is a trained auditor, word clearer and a beautiful being. Our daughter, Heather, started volunteering 20 hours a week at age 13 and had been on staff since, finally working over 50 hrs a week while trying to get through schooling, toward the end.

Over the past few years we’ve had points of disagreements and things that just didn’t make sense. Including, but not limited to, direct policy violations and circumstances that just didn’t make sense. I personally have written a lot of extensive KR’s outlining such violations over the years. We’ve commonly just dubbed in what we thought “must” be the case and settled with the “thought-stopper” that it must just be our own MUs.

The following things are only a few things that we have tried to make sense of, when actually they literally don’t make any sense at all. Some of them we consider to be just out right suppressive and against the stated purpose of the CoS. These questions are never answered in a way that resolves the question.

1. If it’s absolutely vital that we get 10,000 people auditing on OTVII – then why is the pricing of Scientology out of reach for the majority of the population?

2. In the early 70’s the cost of ALL the OT levels (if purchased in a package) was $2500 – today it’s close to $500,000 when all is said and done. What level of inflation is that?

3. In answer to the “pricing” questions, we’ve been told it’s because Scientology is for “the able” – however, we don’t think one can judge ability by someone’s bank account. Some of the biggest SPs on the planet are very wealthy.

4. In the inner circle, org staff are considered some of the most able on the planet – yet, if they are no longer on staff and don’t make enough to quickly pay for their bridge, does that mean they are no longer the “able” we want up at the top of the bridge??

5. We heard from personal friends that in the 70’s orgs (and missions) were bursting at the seams. LRH went off the lines, odd things started happening and the orgs started shrinking. Reports went to LRH that David Mayo was an SP – he was declared and gotten off the lines. At that point, orgs should have had huge expansion and grown even bigger; however they did not stably grow. Really? Well, have you ever seen an org bursting at the seams since 1982?

6. Just 3-4 years after LRH died, and with David Miscavige fully in control, orgs have continued to shrink over the long term. We are told Scientology is expanding. Are we to honestly believe that St. Louis org is the only one that has NOT grown in 20 years? I mean stably grown. I’m not talking about the staff count hitting 50, because you turn around and it’s down again. The overall stats at STL are NOT on an uptrend over the past 20 years AT ALL. In fact, stats have been emergency since the 70’s, with some stats, like GI actually in danger and non e. This is denied. However, there is nobody who can prove that the stats are expanding. But let’s don’t forget, we have eyes and we have observation AND we have been around for 22 years!

7. We find it most disturbing that “Scientology has the ONLY workable admin tech on the planet” yet it isn’t working to expand Scientology at the org level. Want more proof? Why is everyone donating every penny, nickel and dime to Ideal Orgs? Why can’t the expanding org, that is delivering more and more auditing and training over that last 22 years afford to just expand up to a larger and nicer location? Why does the org have to resort to “fundraising” all the while the staff is paid far below the poverty level?

8. It’s completely suppressive that staff, considered by most to be the hardest working people on the planet and doing the most important thing for mankind – are paid next to nothing. Pay in class V orgs is so low that it’s impossible to recruit a large staff of competent people (and keep them) because you’re asking them to come on board below the poverty level. A new recruit who doesn’t have someone else who supports them, won’t even be able to afford to buy groceries, and this hasn’t changed in 20 years. If this is the most important activity on the planet – does this make sense to you? It seems to us that LRH never intended it to be this way. He says flourish and prosper, survive in abundance!

9. Very young adults (teenagers) seem to fit the bill well. These children are expected to be “instant adults” and are called “thetans” when in fact, it’s not likely they remember the wisdom of their very last life, and most lack the true wisdom of adults. These young adults have a hard time controlling their own determinism, lacking KRC with life. However, they are easy to indoctrinate into a way of thinking they should do what they do “for the cause” for free, and even if it costs them money to be there. Having a education is secondary to the org’s purpose, and they end up raised as a staff member with little outside world experience. We find this to be an oddly weird. These children are “playing office” while they are getting “trained up” and robotically wielding lightning bolts over all pubic. Dangerous combination!

10. The Sea Org cherry picks local org staff! When they recruit from staff, they claim to “replace” them with new recruits. However, a lot of times the replacements are not viable replacements. If this game is so important and the orgs are so vital, why is it okay for them to cherry pick staff from lower orgs, leaving orgs struggling to always to get hatted up again. We find this suppressive.

11. It’s also completely suppressive to recruit teenagers (heck anyone for that matter) into the SO and then deem them no longer qualified to be on staff, anywhere – if they end up leaving, even if they wanted to join staff at a class V org! Completely suppressive and we are horribly reasonable to not see it.

12. In the Sea Org if you get pregnant, you are off loaded and given your freeloader bill, or you always have the abortion option! Back in the days LRH was around, if an SO member got pregnant they would be sent out to work at a Class V org until their children turned six. Now, they are simply off loaded, given a free loaders bill and told they are not allowed to ever work in any orgs. More resources, to clear the planet, down the drain. Suppressive!

13. Flag coming to class V orgs and regging org public to go to Flag to get their grades, training and do basics in addition to the flag only things…..they say they have perfect auditors and perfectly applied tech….making it feel like we are getting seconds and probably a lot of errors at an org. Even with the GAT.

14. We were told “LRH didn’t write the “Disconnection Canceled” policy, but that probably “some suppressive did it and just put Ron’s name on it”. Well isn’t that comforting? How do we know which PLs were indeed truly authored by LRH? Isn’t it only hearsay at this stage of the game? That PL was written back in 1968. How can anyone be so arrogantly certain that the “reinstatement of the disconnection policy” 15 years later, was really authored by LRH? Think about this statement! When LRH cancelled it in the 60’s he said we had no need for disconnection “because we now have the technology to handle every case”. Ask yourself, does that mean that 15 years later the tech didn’t work anymore, so we needed disconnection again?

15. We were told in the briefing by David Miscavige that LRH decided to drop his body so he could continue his research on upper levels without the hindrance of his body. We were told he was of sound mind and the body was in good health and he was causatively doing this. Yet, after all these years, and after all the lectures, he causatively decided to drop his body without so much as a single personal word to his “following”! That one baffles us. Think about this.

We have experienced pretty horrible situations personally and outpoints so big that they just couldn’t be reconciled. Heather’s experience when she joined the Sea Org and came back to staff was nothing short of sickening! The amount of accumulated bypassed charge I had was incredible. The number of blatant policy violations that adversely affected our family directly through the years are gross and too numerous to go into at this time. Maybe we should write a book as well!

The door to our exit was opened when we watched the CNN’s Anderson Cooper’s show, called “Scientology: A History of Violence”. As unbelievable as this accusation sounded, we actually watched it because our own church spokesperson and others from our church were also on the show. We wanted to see what in the world “we” were being accused of this time, and see how the church defended it.

On the show, we saw fairly recent, very high ranking veteran Ex-International Management members, like ex-CO OSA INT on staff for 25 yrs, Inspector General for Ethics (at the highest level of management for decades), and others of equal magnitude who were accusing David Miscavige of unthinkable crimes! It outlined how the church is ripping families to pieces – unjustly – using our disconnection policy to silence true criticisms. Truthfully, we were leaning toward this being preposterous until we heard our own church’s attorney and our current church spokesperson, Tommy Davis; completely & utterly lie about our church policy regarding disconnection. He and the attorney very believably lied, saying the church has no policy of enforcing disconnection. To say the least, we were stunned to hear this lie and felt additionally that we had just witnessed too much credibility to completely ignore it.

Paul Haggis, a very prominent 35-yr Scientologist (film producer) sent a letter to CNN saying “If they lie about this, what else are they lying about?” That is exactly how we felt. Especially having experience years of many things that just didn’t make sense and ourselves making excuses for too many outnesses.

This started my husband and I on an exhaustive research of the people who were on the show telling their stories. To our surprise, we discovered that these people were whistleblowers! We were not hearing natter, 3rd party or crazy criticism – we were discovering very well written KRs, video interviews, open letters and each discovery opened another “ah ha” moment for us. Now things were making sense! My bypassed charge was decreasing.

Interestingly enough, each and every one of these whistleblowers were subsequently declared. Some were declared for wanting to leave, but most were declared for speaking out against blatant and destructive violations of LHR tech and policy that was NOT BEING HANDLED in decades within the church.

The question we had to ask is why. Why would literally SO MANY dedicated high-level Scientologists of 20, 30 & 40+ years just decide to leave and start speaking out against the church? Are we to really believe that after all these decades of training and processing – or being trusted in the most elite management positions in our church – that they suddenly turned into “suppressive persons” and now want to destroy Scientology? We needed to know WHY they left and what they are whistle-blowing about.

So, for months we researched and with each new thing, turned up something else. Piece by piece our bypassed charge started clearing out. The mass was moving away as things started to make sense now. And to think so many times we thought these mistakes, outpoints and sometimes outright evil dramatizations were mostly because of young inexperienced and often unhatted staff that were running the show these days! Guess what, not only were we wrong in this assumption, we were being reasonable! Out KSW1.

It very soon became very clear WHY the church considers you out-ethics for reading or watching anything dubbed as “anti” Scientology on the internet. Funny, all of us are told that there is danger in running into upper-level confidential OT data that could be dangerous and possibly even fatal to us if we read it – while we’re sure that it’s out there, we never ran into ANY of it in our research. We ran into worse. Much worse! To our horror and without a doubt, we found out that the current church’s own crimes are being exposed by high profile, highly respected veteran international management people, as well as an extraordinary amount of OTs. Many very upstat Scientologists who have donated 100’s of thousands of dollars to Ideal Orgs and the IAS. They’ve walked away and are blowing the whistle. These are people who dedicated their entire LIVES to Scientology and have ended up being labeled as “raving SPs” that the church has to vehemently destroy, with horrible lies and character assassinations.

Further, we have found that people who are discovering this information and talking about it or having doubts about continuing to support and condone the church, are being declared as suppressive persons almost immediately – if the church can’t get them “handled”. We found that the SP Declare was not really being issued as a final ethics gradient, but was being immediately issued as a way to silence the person and to ensure that other Scientologists were forbidden to communicate with them.

Then to just be sure, the SP Declares were written in such a way as to ensure that other scientologist’s viewpoint of them would be slanted and the person’s credibility would be completely discredited. We found proof that in some instances the church utilized confidential confessional information, dropping out time and date of the happenings, to destroy their image. Let me ask you this. Thinking back over every single sec check you’ve ever done, include all your O/W write-ups (leaving out ALL justifiers or so called reasons you committed the OW), and ask yourself, how would it sound if it were taken completely out of context, time and place dropped out and no mention of any ethics handlings having been completed and then put in an issue for all to read? Do you think it would make you look bad?

In our search, we read the stories of hundreds of people. We watched their videos, read what they AND the church had to say in the expose “The Truth Rundown” (published by the St. Petersburg Times) which contained very interesting historical information and facts, as well as fair coverage of what the church’s side is to the whole thing. There were a lot of video interviews of ex-CMOI and WDC upper-management-type people. These interviews stunned us and we had no doubt these people were NOT lying. We read doubt formulas of Veteran New OTVIIIs and highly detailed KRs written by extremely upstat and high level Scientologists. We had the opportunity to evaluate the data against things we’d already experienced and knew to be true.

We discovered there is a huge movement of prominent Scientologists around the world who are demanding that “we” wake up! Most of these people have been walking away since 2004 and they are NOT trying to harm Scientology, these folks are applying KSW1. These Scientologists have come to sadly realize that there is no longer a way for this situation to be handled from within the church and withdrawing one’s support is the answer, per LRH as he describes in The Way To Happiness. He tells you how to handle a suppressive government, he says just simply withdraw your support.

After literally months of exhaustive research, we concluded that it is our reality that the Church is condoning the lying, abuse of policy and tech and covering it up. Ultimately, we could not, in good conscience, ignore the voices of our fellow Scientologists, including, but limited to, Marty Rathbun, Geir Isene, Jenny Miscavige, Ronnie Miscavige, Jason Beghe, Mike Rinder, Amy Scobee, Jeff Hawkins, Mary-Jo Leavitt, Lisa Hamilton, Larry Anderson (the narrator of the Orientation Film), Tom De Vocht, Sherry Katz, Christie Colbran, Paul Haggis, Mark Hamilton, Karen De La Carriere (who by the way, is the ex-wife of the President of the Church of Scientology), and numerous others –

We made our decision – we could no longer condone or support the Church of Scientology as it’s currently managed. Courageously, we, as a family, issued a 14-page letter of resignation to the ethics department of our local org, privately announcing our intention to withdraw our support. You can read our Letter of Resignation here – http://littledoubt.wordpress.com/2010/10/29/jim-meshell-little-open-letter

This blog site was put together composing much of the stuff we researched – just in case one true friend of 22 years respected us enough to realize we had not dropped off the deep end. Just in case they wanted to look. Guess what, not one single person approached us. Yes, sorry – one did. However, we were unwilling to tell this person because he was the son of our very best friends and we felt he was not stable enough to have this information. Compassion, I call it.

We realized we likely would be quickly labeled as SP’s like all others who stood up before us, however, we are not going to be controlled by “fear” of our own Church either. Labels don’t make one “suppressive”, it only stops others from communicating.

We stood up because it was the only thing that could be done. LRH describes the price of freedom. We know that once a few have the courage to stand up, then more will have the courage to stand up. Staff and management will not be able to ignore us for long, because it’s going to become too obvious that we are not ALL suppressives.

For us, so much by-passed charge is gone! Years of things that have never made sense to us, now make sense! Being labeled as an SP by the current management is meaningless – as we have already lost LRH’s Scientology to criminal and corrupt activities.

Then the day came that the church played GOD. The almighty SP DECLARE was issued on our family. I have it below, and I’m making comments on it, however, I need to say something here.

Here are points you need to know:

1. Jim, Heather and I went to the org and privately gave our resignation to the correct terminals in the org. This was not done “publicly”.

2. The HES was mad, said he was going to be the one to declare us.

3. We all walked away that day and the ONLY one to say or do anything else in the light of “public” was Jim. He was mad and when we got home he decided to post on Facebook what we had done, what Matt said and offered if anyone wanted to read our write up. I disagreed with this. He did it, not Heather and not me. Jim was very upset a few times and blurted things out publicly, Heather I and stayed politely private about our feelings and thoughts.

4. Heather silently came home, deleted all Scientology friends and moved on to her next chapter in life, never talking about it again – she didn’t read any sites EVER and she just moved on. She, in fact, had not committed a single suppressive act.

5. We did not get a comm ev. We did not get a Non Enturb Order. We did not get a hearing. We were not asked clarifying questions as to activities, time place form or event. In fact, we were not even spoken to again after that day, except by the DSA who was showing me LRH policy to refute my stance. I knew she cared deeply and hated our decision to do this. However, what she was showing couldn’t answer our concerns or handle the tons of atrocities that our family had experienced over the years that KRs never resolved. With all this mentioned, please see our goldenrod, almighty God, declaration of independence!

CHURCH OF SCI.ENTOLOGY OF MISSOURI

STL Ethics Order #2955 2 1 October 20 10

ALL ORGS

ALL MISSIONS

SUPPRESSIVE PERSON DECLARE

JAMES (JIM) LITTLE

MESHELL LITTLE (POWERS)

HEATHER POWERS

Jim Little, Meshell Little and Heather Powers of Saint Louis, Missouri, are hereby declared Suppressive Persons per HCO PL 7 March 1965RB I, SUPPRESSIVE ACTS, SUPPRESSION OF SCIENTOLOGY AND SCIENTOLOGISTS.

It was recently found that Jim and Meshell had been using ex-Scientologists and Suppressive Persons as their sources for a study of their religion.

—– First of all, wait, huh? Was this a typo? “study of their religion”? You know, we are not even sure what they are accusing us of here. It almost seems as if they are accusing us of getting field auditing or training from SPs. Well, I think someone should cough up some evidence of this because it never happened. If they mean we have been using these people as a source of RESEACH and INVESTIGATION, then it would be true!

They then forwarded black propaganda statements, enemy lines and falsehoods about Scientology organizations, parishioners and Church principals to other Scientologists, thus propagating them, in an attempt to pull those people off The Bridge.

—– Ok, well first of all would it be too much to ask for a less broad generality here? This would be true if you consider that I talked to my immediate family. With what we have discovered of course I told my mother, my son and daughter! I wanted only to allow them to know where I stood on the matter and to find out where they stood. Come on! Duh! This is the real world and we are a real family. However, Jim did offer to any of his Facebook Scientology “friends” to read our resignation letter to see what our side was. That was Jim and not “Jim and Meshell”.

Through investigation it was discovered that Heather had covertly continued to work as a staff member of the Church while knowingly betraying her fellow staff and making secret plans to resign from the Church.

—– This section on Heather is the sickest and most unjust of all. Let me take this up point by point.

—– The truth of this is that our discoveries were discussed with Heather only days previously; however she did not have the months of research and all the data that we had. She decided she would just finish her contract. I thought this would be okay. However, and get this, Heather is a 15 year old who had been on staff since she was 13. She was not supposed to be working over a certain amount of hours, per the law, because of schooling. She ended up being expected to work at least 40 hours a week and when I said she would have to do a straight day schedule so I could more effectively get her schooling done, her senior, the Cope Off, adamantly refused to allow her to do this unless she also came in on Thursday nights at 9:30pm for weekly staff meetings. This was completely unworkable and yet her senior wouldn’t hear of anything else and wouldn’t approve the schedule stating, “I don’t care about your schooling, I care about policy”. After me discussing this in detail with her senior and getting nowhere, that is when we decided Heather was not going to work there anymore. That is when we decided we had to pull her off staff, compose a resignation letter that would explain our decisions and just walk away. She didn’t even go back to the org once this decision was made.

While appearing to be a Scientologist in good standing, she treacherously began allying herself with known SPs and disclosing confidential parishioner information which was then forwarded to websites run by known squirrels, in an attempt to harm the Church and the parishioner.

—– First thought here is what?? This is 100% lies and complete ASSUMPTION of facts. Heather has never been allied with a known SP, and with the exception of us, she has never communicated in any fashion with declared SPs and still hasn’t. The only thing that comes to mind here is when Heather divulged information about a parishioner who had been offered sleeping pills from the ED/CS and then was subsequently locked away in a mental hospital. Heather had no idea that Jim and I had been researching or our decision, at that time she was confidentially mentioning this to me out of her concern/upset for the parishioner and total shock of the situation. Later, it was Jim who posted this information on the Ex Scientology Message Board because he was blown away by this!

While a staff member of the Church, Heather had a record of continual dishonesty and repeatedly not showing up which dumped work on other staff.

—– This statement is a broad generality. There were times Heather was sick and was not allowed to come to post because she had fever. As for dishonesty, I assume Heather’s fear of speaking her mind is what caused her to seem dishonest. As far as dumping workloads, let’s get this straight. Heather started volunteering at the church when she was 13 years old for NO PAY for 6 months before she turned 14. When she started working for pay at 14 years old she made on average $20 PER WEEK even when she was working up to 40 hours. There were numerous times she came in on her days off to help her senior cover a post, and numerous times she babysit another staff member’s children, on her only day off, for free, so they could be on post.

After investigation revealed the actions they were carefully hiding, Jim, Meshell and Heather presented their resignation from the Church rather than seek an on-policy, honest handling.

—– This statement is a gross and blatant lie. What “investigation” are they talking about? Oh, I get it. Jim posted that confidential information on the ESMB just 2 days previous to our decision to submit a letter of resignation and pull Heather off staff. So on the day that we were bringing in our letter we were confronted with this demand to get on the meter. We finally figured out that they were trying to find out how this information had gotten on the internet. It’s very real to me that they would think magically just because they almost got us on the meter that we created a 14 page resignation letter in the hour before they demanded we come to the org for a metered interview and take all the credit for having cracked the case. OMG. They found the right “why” again!

When confronted and given an opportunity to avail themselves of standard Scientology technology to resolve this matter they refused the help offered by Church staff members and then spread lies regarding them.

—– Yes, the HES did offer the day of resignation to show us the “truth” disputing what we believed. The HES, HAS, and COPE OFF sat down with us, after quickly scan reading over our letter and proceeded to tell us how wrong we were. How we had been tricked by SPs. We asked if they had ever looked at what we researched or had they only read what the church is saying about the people saying it. The HES said he had read the church’s dead agent material and need not read more. We asked him if he knew who Pat Broker or Annie Broker were and he had no clue. That sealed it for us. We remember people used to bad mouth Dianetics and when you asked if they had ever read the book themselves or read anything by LRH, they would say some similar thing…..realize, you can’t have an intelligent conversation under these circumstances. We decided there was no way we could be “handled” if they were unwilling to read or listen to what is actually being said out there. This conversation was over.

After this, in exchange for financial gain, Jim then offered his pre-paid legal “services” to help others get refunds and leave the Church.

—– Well what do you know a piece of truth. However, this is only partially true. Jim offered it because he had seen where other people who had left got their unused donations for services back using Pre-Paid Legal services. While others were have trouble getting them because they had no legal representation or advice. He has not made a single dime off this. I’d like to also point out, Heather and Meshell had nothing to do with this either.

A review of Meshell’s ethics file reveals an unchanging pattern of out-ethics towards her fellow Scientologists. These include using Scientology communication lines for profit, heavy promotion of dishonest investments which cost her fellow Scientologists tens of thousands of dollars, driving some of them to hardship or bankruptcy, that she continued to promote against clear direction from the Church that it was unethical. Deeper investigation shows a continuing pattern of pretending to be a knowledgeable and ethical Scientologist while, in fact, squirreling Scientology materials to stop action and enturbulate others.

—– Well, this is an interesting attack on me for sure. Especially when all I did was submit the resignation letter and carefully went silently about my way. They reviewed my ethics file and found information from over 12 years ago and twisted it to use for their own ends in this SP declare. It’s quite gross in my opinion.

Let me address these points. First of all I’m confused by the first point that there is an “unchanging pattern of out-ethics toward her fellow Scientologists”. This is a broad generalization that truly makes me sound horrible. Quite interesting that the things they are mentioning came from a decade ago and since that time I served on staff again, took courses and even had auditing! Do you think this would have happened if I were as described?

The second line was something referring to heavy promotion of dishonest investments. This is twisted up with adjectives added to ensure insidiousness is portrayed. However, let me say it was, sadly & embarrassingly PARTIALLY true. First, there was no heavy promotion and I was not doing this to harm anyone, nor do I believe it was dishonest – however we were ALL tricked and we ALL lost money. Some lost more than others and I took a lot of responsibility and felt more than horrible about it! I did my ethics conditions over 12 years ago and it was completely resolved back then. I have letters from some of these people letting me know that they did not hold me responsible for their losses, because we all knew (in fact signed papers to the fact) that there was risk involved.

The sentence stating “using scientology communication lines for profit” – well, I’m not really sure what all this is about, however, the church, not understanding MLM or Network Marketing, is making it sound very weird and evil.

Line up 50 staff members from Sea Org to orgs and take a survey. Many have NO IDEA what or how network marketing works, and prominent others encourage Scientologists to take advantage of this type of business ownership to make a living! My business partner, Sharon Lyman, and I started a business that was done via network marketing and SOME of the people who were involved were our friends, who were scientologists! It was introduced to us by Scientologists and we had all hoped to make a lot of bridge money.

So these statements just clearly show these young adults wielding lightning bolts again. No worldly wisdom, just uneducated opinions.

The church started dictating to me and Sharon, that the product we were selling and promoting was unethical. It was educational materials teaching people about their rights as tax payers are and taught them how to create legal tax shelters. The church came down on us and said we could not promote the material because it was not true blah blah blah. Even though we heavily disagreed with this evaluation, it ruined our business as we had to stop promoting it. Then, to bring this up over a decade later and act like it’s somewhat current and continuing (or even that it was unethical in the first place) is obviously done to harm my reputation.

Additionally, during this time, my business partner, Sharon Lyman, decided to get drastic with the whole tax concept and personally decided to opt out of the income tax system – she literally stopped paying taxes! I didn’t do this, and expressed to her that she shouldn’t do it either. Later, when she wanted to do scientology services again, she was told she would have to pay back all the taxes if she wanted to come back on services. Even though she fully believed she was within her legal rights (even to this day), she complied. It was THIS that caused them to have to file bankruptcy.

If this is the best they could do to show how evil I am, pulling things from 13 years ago from my ethics file, leaving out important information, twisting it into all one weird event then being so vague that I don’t even know what I’m accused of is highly evil, unethical and low toned! It was done ONLY to make me look bad.

It then said that I pretend to be a knowledgeable and ethical Scientologist while in fact squirreling the materials to stop and enturbulate others. Well, all I can say here is what are you talking about? First of all, I am quite knowledgeable and pretty ethical by most standards. Oh, I think they mean I didn’t donate enough money to the IAS and the Ideal Orgs. Well, I guess I’m guilty.

They are not Scientologists, they are squirrels. This is evaluation and I have not seen any proof of this accusation. Sadly, they (the church) are liars.

According to HCO PL 7 March 1965RB I, SUPPRESSIVE ACTS, SUPPRESSION OF SCIENTOLOGY AND SCIENTOLOGISTS:

“Suppressive acts are defined as actions or omissions- undertaken to knowingly suppress, reduce or impede Scientology or Scientologists.”

Jim and Meshell Little and Heather Powers are guilty of the following Suppressive Acts:

1. PUBLIC DISAVOWAL OF SCIENTOLOGY OR SCIENTOLOGISTS IN GOOD STANDING WITH SCIENTOLOGY ORGANIZATIONS.

2. PUBLIC STATEMENTS AGAINST SCIENTOLOGY OR SCIENTOLOGISTS BUT NOT TO COMMITTEES OF EVIDENCE DULY CONVENED.

3. ENGAGING IN MALICIOUS RUMORMONGERING TO DESTROY THE AUTHORITY OR REPUTE OF HIGHER OFFICERS OR THE LEADING NAMES OF SCIENTOLOGY OR TO “SAFEGUARD” A POSITION.

4. IT IS A HIGH CRIME TO PUBLICLY DEPART SCIENTOLOGY.

5. SEEKING TO SPLINTER OFF AN AREA OF SCIENTOLOGY AND DENY IT TO PROPERLY CONSTITUTED AUTHORITY FOR PERSONAL PROFIT, PERSONAL POWER OR “TO SAVE THE ORGANIZATION FROM THE HIGHER OFFICERS OF SCIENTOLOGY .”

Additionally, Heather is guilty of the following Suppressive Act:

6. WHERE A PERSON IS SECRETLY PLANNING TO LEAVE AND MAKING PRIVATE PREPARATIONS TO DO SO WITHOUT INFORMING THE PROPER TERMINALS IN AN ORG AND DOES LEAVE (BLOW) AND DOES NOT RETURN WITHIN A REASONABLE LENGTH OF TIME, AN AUTOMATIC DECLARE IS TO BE ISSUED.

All certificates and awards issued to Jim Little, Meshell Little, and Heather Powers are hereby cancelled. Any licenses or agreements that they may have acquired to use any of the trademarks or service marks of Dianetics or Scientology are likewise cancelled and any membership agreements that they may have signed with any Church of Scientology are also cancelled.

Should they come to their senses and recant, they may apply steps A-E as covered in HCO PL 7 March 1965RB I, SUPPRESSIVE ACTS, SUPPRESSION OF SCIENTOLOGY AND SCIENTOLOGISTS.

Their only terminal is the International Justice Chief via the Continental Justice Chief.

Corporate Scientology and Corporate Internet Interests

Over the past two years the corporate church has spent millions of dollars on the internet combatting the Truth Rundown.   They have gone so far as to register dozens of domain names using my full name and created a number of sites and blogs with them attempting to divert traffic from this blog.  They have bought huge amounts of internet advertising with CNN, St Pete Times, and a number of other major media.  They have paid Google to place pop up ads for their childish propaganda when someone googles my name.

Coincidentally Google refuses to list my blog in it is news updates under the subject of Scientology. They list a number of blogs and sites that have a small fraction of the traffic Moving On Up A Little Higher has. Sites that do not post news, unrefuted, unchallenged and in many cases news that despite the corporate church’s best efforts goes viral, as routinely occurs here.

I didn’t intend to make an issue out of this because despite these monied interests’ efforts to quiet us, visitor stats just keep climbing.   But I decided to take a broader issue up after Geir Isene wrote to me recently. Geir informed me how he was exiled from Facebook by the intelligence and PR efforts of the corporate church.  You can read Geir’s account at the following link:

http://isene.wordpress.com/2010/10/16/exiled-and-looking-for-friends/

A few months ago a number of non-Scientology blogs, and news services broke the news that corporate Scientology, along with a number of other major greed-driven corporations, was using Facebook for intelligence gathering for commercial purposes.  You can read about that at the following link.

http://www.orangesoda.com/blog/are-scientology-and-apple-reading-your-facebook/

I am opening up the discussion on any corporate internet abuses you all may know of.  While at this stage I am only noting outpoints, I wonder whether or not behind them is some large-scale bullshit that is going on in terms of controlling the net in ways to suppress freedom of speech and information. 

Anybody have information to share along this line?

Independence – A Silvia Kusada creation

Look what Silvia created.

Thank you for your beautiful work in bringing people together Silvia.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1060781387#!/video/video.php?v=1589940262671

Frankly DM, the Hamiltons don’t give a damn

Well, with mixed emotions, we are announcing we are now declared “suppressive persons” – the mixed emotions are amusement and embarrassment – our amusement, but not our embarrassment. It is embarrassment for IJC and CJC and all those involved in writing or approving this issue.

We will share part of it with you, so you can see that it must have been written quickly and under a lot of pressure to do so – thus it was general (in violation of writing an ethics order), full of out points and very inaccurate.

Number one, it says: “Mark and Lisa Hamilton of Henderson, NV”…now come on, don’t they read their emails? their mail? or any website? At least they could have looked in the phone book. We live in Gardnerville, NV – which is almost 500 miles north of Henderson…we have NEVER been to Henderson, nor do we even know anyone who does. We are debating if they are simply that sloppy or they thought there might be people trying to stay friends with us or find us and this might throw them off the trail….hmmm…

Secondly, it says we “were promptly encouraged to apply LRH policy [after we blew]”. Another blatant lie. Kirsten from OSA Int called Lisa’s dad to see if he knew where we were. He said no (which was the truth). Lisa wrote Kirsten a letter from Moose, Wyoming (as we were out and about seeing the Grand Tetons and Old Faithful) and said not to contact our relatives and we had no plans to come back at that point. We never talked to her or anyone else at that time or received any communication. We had NO comm from anyone in the church for about a year after that – after we had to flap about them not following the law as we could not get our year-end tax forms. The flap did impinge and got us our forms.

It says we violated HCO PL Leaving and Leaves as we “secretly planned to leave” – which is not true. We did not plan or talk about it until the morning we left – when we just could not take having our hygiene cut AGAIN in order to sit in a room and cold-call people and reg them for another Basics book package. We just decided to leave and left. No planning. Just pack and walk out. Then have fun driving to Wyoming.

Very spontaneous.

The rest of it is just as bad or worse. We can’t even tell what they are referring to in parts of it, even though it is us who supposedly did these dastardly deeds. Besides the dropped out time on events, it says Mark was assigned to “simple administrative functions” – he was an executive in his org. It seems to be made of frustrated, whole cloth and we guess they are trying to somehow “dead agent” us so people think they will get sick if they talk to us.

Some months ago, Lisa wrote IJC and asked for our Freeloader Bills as we were going to at least start paying that. We NEVER got what those were. There was some sort of rigmarole between IJC and PAC Security where we guess they were going to try to get us to come down to PAC for the information – very obviously had some sort of plan as it was a big Q&A. But after Lisa would not agree to violating her integrity and only be friends and/or talk to who they said was okay, she could never get a straight answer from either IJC or the Security guard as to WHAT exactly was our F/L debt. In fact, neither IJC nor PAC Security have answered her last email from MONTHS ago. CJC, who wrote this dumb issue, never even tried to contact us…or on second thought, maybe he was looking in Henderson….

Now, you may ask, how, then, did we get the declare if they forgot where we lived? The simple answer is a friend found it and sent it to us for grins….which we did get and for which they are thanked for.

Lisa can take some responsibility for the issue being so bad, as Richard Valle, the CJC used to be her junior and she is no longer there to verify the data is accurate. His senior, Lon Kloeffler, the Snr I&R, (who unfortunately was also her junior) is not usually concerned with truth, but with making people look bad, so his innate meanness and twisting of the truth to suit the occasion would have blinded him to the errors. We are, though, very surprised with IJC missing the gaping out-points, but then he must still be off post regging for the IAS or the Basics. Who knows?

Realize that the truth is that the church terminals did not want us to have a copy of our declare as they knew it was ridiculous and it would be exposed as such. The same is happening to others…they are being declared and then being told they cannot have a copy of the issue as it is “church property”… it is pathetic and cowardly, really.

This may seem a bit harsh. However, it is being done tongue-in-cheek and with laughter in our hearts. We are alive, doing well in – GARDNERVILLE, NEVADA – and are applying Scientology to our lives – openly, freely and for the better.

We hope you are too.

 -Mark and Lisa Hamilton-

Labyrinth or Liberty?

 

Hello,

My name is Joanna Cook, I am 25 years old. I grew up in Scientology, claimed it as my own when I was 16, joined the Sea Org shortly thereafter, found out I was unqualified, and worked from 16-24 trying to find my identity now that I could not be in the Sea Org. I volunteered with The Way To Happiness, the Volunteer Ministers, Criminon, a few OT Committees (OTCs), and finally worked for three years as a volunteer for Latin America or LATAM (defined as Mexico, Central America and South America) side-by-side with my mom, Mary Jo Leavitt [the LATAM IC], as her co-Stats IC, PR IC and, for one and a half years as the Compliance Reports IC, whereupon we (and the 9 OTCs across LATAM) worked in tandem to achieve the first – and as I understand it, only – “continent” in the world to complete the entire program! Because we didn’t make the OTCs fit the program, but rather validated what they were already doing right that fulfilled the purpose of the program, we obtained awesome, magical expansion and joy across the entire zone. It was the most beautiful experience I had ever had; I loved every person I worked with, and this ideal world promised in events seemed actually possible. But right at that high point, everything changed, and I went from being the most gung-ho person I knew (and one of the most gung-ho public as recognized by a huge stack of commendations) to a public utterly disaffected with Management.

So what the heck happened? Apparently, the OSA line to others is that my mom suddenly sprung a weird something-something and turned into a Suppressive Person (an “SP”, in the same class as Hitler) and corrupted me, too, which is so ridiculous that I was grateful for the people that disconnected from us, because they proved to have never been friends in the first place. Never mind that the Cont. Justice Chief told me my mother was not declared when I asked about it, yet I’ve been rumor-declared for failing to disconnect from my mom on a rumor. (That’s another story for another time.)

Actually, I had been disaffected momentarily here and there since 16, with my experiences in the EPF and various inconsistencies (between what things should have been and what they actually were) during my volunteering experiences. But every time I either wrote it up or brushed it off and assigned myself conditions, tried to figure out what I was failing to take responsibility for, etc. I thought maybe they were isolated incidences. I was also off for a year after some bad auditing, Clear-not-Clear, etc. But I “got over” all that.

In a nutshell, the straw that broke the camel’s back was my volunteer work with LATAM, because it proved these were not isolated incidences; I discovered that the people I was working with and loved got crushed because they refused to fundraise and simply wanted to disseminate, and this happened across an entire continent causing our zone to go from Power to Non-Existence in the space of a few months. After two years of trying to fix it internally, it just got worse. I was completely devastated that no one in Management actually gave a hoot about the people; they only wanted the money and the buildings. A series of situations (all covered in the reports of Mary Jo Leavitt) brought me to the conclusion that this was not the organization I signed up for, and I quit.

(note: those reports can be found at: https://markrathbun.wordpress.com/2009/10/12/new-ot-viii-mary-jo-leavitt-blows-the-whistle/

https://markrathbun.wordpress.com/2010/01/06/new-ot-viis-in-st-pete-times/ )

It was painful, because it momentarily divorced me from a huge part of my identity and for a while I wasn’t sure how to exist without it, and yet it was totally awesome, because I was finally free from a very suppressive situation.

After my mom submitted her Knowledge Report online, the DSA that “visited” her showed us a reference that stated if anyone attacked Management, they were attackers of Scientology, since Scientology and Management were the same thing. Well, in that case, the same is true on the flip side – anything Management does that draws ill will or bad repute to itself also brings ill will and bad repute to Scientology. Yet when we bring these points up, we’re spreading enemy line.

And that’s one of the issues Management/Scientology is attacked for, publicly – inconsistency. They preach universal human rights and yet their staff doesn’t get to eat or sleep until they make their quota? They are the leaders in knowledge about the human spirit but they can’t make up their mind as to what the state of Clear is or not? How come people are broke or desperate or in any way imperfect if they have all the tools to solve every problem known to mankind?

The cruel part is that Scientology, as the organization stands now, is like living in a snow globe world. It’s supposed to be perfect, but it isn’t, and the world outside is supposed to be within our reach but it isn’t.

The “ideal scene” is always beyond reach, belonging to someone outside ourselves, and nothing we can do allows us to grasp it, even for a moment. We capture fragments, promises, of it, like snowflakes that melt in our hand.

The Church has these snow globe events that promise a utopian world if only everyone had Scientology, yet we have to give up our right to our own life in order to “Clear The Planet”. Has anyone ever given a concise and definite definition to what that means? I’ve had staff intimate it means we cross the threshold of theta versus entheta on a planet-wide scale, so that it means people’s entheta gets converted Poof! with a wave of awesome theta overtaking everything. And this is achieved solely through the IAS and library campaigns (not the actual Scientology services, but promises of future services) carried on the backs of broke parishioners. So basically, it means that Clearing the Planet is making sure everyone has an abundance of theta except us, yes? Wait. Huh?

Yet we must continue forward, because the fate of the entire sector of the universe rests on each one of our shoulders. If we fail now, we’ve doomed the entire race of humans, and all thetans everywhere (even though we don’t exist in space or time) now and forever, to the worst kind of misery imaginable. Our children will grow up in a cruel, bitter world devoid of any succor, so instead they should join the Sea Org and given to a life of “service”. But it’s okay, because they’re salvaging the universe.

And yet we can’t progress on the Bridge; instead of the glorious golden contraption leading us out of darkness to the rich and bountiful place of Total Freedom, we have a strange tangle of wooden planks and rope that becomes a labyrinth halfway across the chasm with a recurring return to this place called Clear. If we manage to escape out of the labyrinth, we’re struck by lightning before we can take the next step across, and if we survive that, we discover the world at the end is another snow globe – a place that is promised, supposed to be perfect, yet just out of our reach – that will only happen if the ones who finally escaped the labyrinth can convince everyone else to cross the chasm.

And no matter how much we take a sledge hammer to the glass of our snow globe, bang our heads against it, consult auditors and ethics officers and even chaplains to understand why the glass won’t crack, it’s indestructible. That world that is supposed to be ours can never be ours, and it’s all our own individual fault we can’t attain it, and because of our individual failure, we’ve screwed it up for everyone else. It’s premeditated, and designed to drive people insane. And yet it’s called Scientology.

People are in quite a conundrum. Here they are, in the middle of a chasm, and the world they’re trying to leave behind was awful – it had fears, insecurities, needless doubts and pain and hopelessness, and yet the price to attain the perfect world free of all that is creating a constant state of those things. Then, they’ve got their whole family or their children or someone they love entangled in this mess and they can’t move back without them, yet they can’t move forward, and they’re stuck in this labyrinth that is slowly eating them alive or sapping them of sanity, and the fact that they feel anything negative at all is entirely their fault, or the fault of strange beings or past incidences or otherworldly phenomena that can only be solved by moving forward.

Yet anytime they think it might be possible to actually move forward, there’s punishment in the shadows of their hope, and after a while they instinctively will hold themselves back from hoping, or from trying, and that again is cause for punishment.

In essence, the game where everyone wins is now the hell where everyone loses. Even the snow globe ideal orgs, in their perfect buildings with the perfect renovations, are built on musical chairs (swiping staff from other places), extortion, in locations that are unwise, or for orgs that were financially struggling to begin with, or based in countries under tyranny… they are supposed to be perfect, but something about them just isn’t. And people who are aware, who are supposed to be the public we seek, will know it, and instinctively they’ll stay away. Meanwhile, the org itself will be destroyed because the multiple policies protecting it have been utterly violated, and its destruction will be the fault of the public and the staff who were supposed to make it go right.

This organization that calls itself Scientology has made a premeditated effort to lock each dynamic into Scientology, at the exclusion of any other entity. For instance, the 8th dynamic is apparently only understood when you have a total grasp of the 7th, which you can’t fully understand until you’ve reached the top of the Bridge. The 6th dynamic (which is constantly at war with us) can only be conquered through Scientology. The 5th can only be salvaged from nuclear war if we Clear the Planet. We’re supposed to Clear the Planet even though “Wogs” can’t or won’t read (like they used to, they need video explanations now or they won’t get it), can’t understand basic ideas without studying 18 volumes and numerous lectures, are drug addicts, 1.1, and generally not to be trusted. Seriously, they are rather pitiful creatures when compared to us Homo Novises. They have case that sprouts off, they compare Scientology to all these other awful and weird practices, and psychiatrists everywhere have convinced them they need psychiatric drugs when all they need is Dianetics. (Plus O/Ws, Sec-Checking, donations, attendance at events, Evil purpose checks, oh we’re not supposed to mention that; Dianetics solves everything, per our patter when we do the stress tests.) And groups! My gosh, imagine trying to find a decent group outside of Scientology. What with all the people below 2.0 and faulty/inefficient technology, and ignorance on how to run a business or get along with others… so it’s better finding work and friends amongst people who understand, and can do proper admin scales, conditions, etc. Then there’s the family, which of course can only be whole and happy if Scientology is being applied. We have marriage counseling, life repair for the wayward kiddies, ethics officers standing by, and staff positions available so no one has to go to college to get a worthwhile job. Not that anyone would want to waste time with college anyway. Any friends, relatives, etc. not Scientologists are advised to become Scientologists as soon as possible. And as for the first dynamic, well, that’s not important in the scheme of things, is it? Necessity level demands we do what is the greatest good for the greatest number of dynamics, and only by consistently acting along those lines and acting as a 3.5+ on the Tone Scale can one ever have any real happiness at all.

Naturally, the greatest good for the greatest number of dynamics means what is best for the largest number of nameless faces that will benefit by our campaigns to Clear the Planet. Savings, what’s that? What’s the point in holding out for a rainy day when the fate of the world is in our hands right now? My Golly, don’t you know we’re already too late? The Big Man has his finger on the Big Red Button in this very instant, and the psyches are all but ready to take over government and all the schools, and only the IAS and the library campaign can save the day. You don’t see the connection, you say? Off with your head! I mean, over to Ethics for you.

So one day you’ve had enough, and decide you want to walk away, but you can’t. You have no choice. Exactly, it’s called Blackmail. If you leave, you lose your family, your work, your group, your only chance at salvation, your reputation, you’ve probably already lost your house, but worst of all, you lose your identity. This is who you are, now, and it’s everything you are, so it has to be okay. Things will work out. Ron promised it would in his When You Need Reassurance. So if we just hold out a little longer…

And one by one the things that were important, that made everything worthwhile, fade away, and we free-fall in our chasm, trapped in a fractured snow globe world that’s left us so we can’t reach at all; there’s nothing left to reach for. It’s the ultimate betrayal in the name of help, the one thing this wasn’t supposed to be, not this time. Some people could shatter upon this realization, and close themselves up into a tiny little box way deep inside themselves, and pretend that just because they’re still breathing it means they’re still alive; or they can go into a fit of rage; or they figure they can commit suicide; or they can walk away. Sometimes we go through shades of all these stages.

But the amazing thing is that there is a beautiful world out here waiting for us, and it isn’t separated by titanium bulletproof glass. Identities that are our own, dreams, goals, friendship, family, joy, teammanship, help, exquisite moments, are all possible and graspable and they can be yours. No scarcity. No strings attached.

It’s an interesting journey reclaiming life after it’s been molded into a shadow of what life can be, and after the shackles of what can or should exist are broken and cast aside. There’s a whole world full of awesome and friendly people, of fascinating philosophies and ideas, of life and nature experiences to be had, welcoming you with open arms — yet these things were only supposed to exist in the confines of Scientology… it has to be experienced to be believed.

For me, it makes the painful parts worth it, because at least – at last – the pain becomes transient, and the lying doesn’t have to be a necessary part of living, and prosperity, joy, unfettered existence, becomes real.

I can keep what for me is good about the philosophy, and use it as I want to, and when I want to, and my life is finally mine to live.

I want others to enjoy the gains I’ve had, and I can finally say that without the little voice in the back of my head saying, “Gains, sure, but would I want anyone to have the experience that I’ve had? No!” Being half-in and half-out is awful; I lived that for 18 months. True, I had less to lose than many still “in”: I never accepted the derogatory term “wog” and had lots of friends and family not in Scientology; my family all called it quits individually; I had no boyfriend, children, relatives in the S.O.; my job was secure; and even though things were hard for a while and there were growing pains after leaving, I would do it all again. All the painful experiences over the past year, summed up, still doesn’t come close to one week of being in that organization, not able to communicate openly, fruitlessly trying to fix things, ramming against that snow globe glass, trying to understand what was wrong with me that I couldn’t grasp. That was true pain.

I want all my friends, and my comrades, to be free of that. You deserve a beautiful, rich, full life. I hope you can hold it in your hands, and know that everyone you love can hold it, too.

Sincerely,
Joanna Cook

Miscavige’s people can’t lie straight in bed

By way of background, I refer to my post of 19 August on this blog:  https://markrathbun.wordpress.com/2010/08/19/lying-in-miscaviges-70-million-bunker/

In that post I quoted excerpts from the July 2 deposition of Tommy Davis that were lodged in the court file in the Headley cases. Since then I received a copy of the entire transcript of the deposition.  The transcript reveals that Davis’ prevaricating was far more blatant than what was demonstrated by the then-available excerpts in the 19 August post.

On July 2 of this year Thomas “Tommy” Davis swore under the pains and penalties of perjury to tell Marc and Claire Headley’s lawyers the truth, and nothing but the truth. 

Let’s take a look at what regard Miscavige’s chosen golden boy has for the law of the of the land requiring one answer truthfully to questions asked in deposition.  Usually it requires some external documentary evidence to prove someone a liar. Davis proves himself to be a liar.

Q (question): So do you have any responsibilities for Sea Organization members who blow?

A (answer): No.

Q: You’re not supposed to follow individuals who have left the Sea Organization?

A: I’m not actually sure I understand the question.

Q: Okay. Do you follow individuals who left the Sea Organization without prior authorization?

A: No.

Q: Have you ever done that?

A: No.

Q: So you have never followed a Sea Organization member that has blown?

A: No.

Now, the following is what Tommy had to say just five minutes later during the deposition:

Q: Okay. So you have been to Texas in either April or May?

A: Yeah.

Q: Okay. And what was the purpose of that visit?

A:   I was — went with some friends to see a friend of mine who had left.

Q: Was that individual’s name John Brousseau?

A: Yes.

Q: Isn’t true that you showed up at his motel room at 5:30 in the morning?

A: Yes, it is.

Q: Did he call and ask you to come visit him?

A: He did not.

Q: So when you visited him at 5:30 in the morning, it was unannounced?

A: That is correct.

Q: And you came in a vehicle. And were there three other people with you?

A: Yes, there were.

Q: Had Mr. Brousseau recently blown the Sea Organization?

A: Yes, he had.

Q: How did you know he was in Texas?

A: I was informed by my supervisor.

Q: Did your supervisor tell you to go see him?

A: No, she did not.

Q: So why did you go to Texas to see John?

A: Because he is a very good friend of mine.

Q: But he did not ask you to come visit him?\

A: No, he did not.

Q: And at the time that you were visiting Mr. Brousseau, is it true that there were a number of vehicles that were sent to the home of Marty Rathbun?

A: I don’t know about “sent.”  There were some people who went to see him, yes.

….

Q: Who did send those individuals to Marty Rathbun’s house?

A: I don’t know of anybody that sent them. Nobody sent anybody anywhere.

Q: So no one sent you to see Mr. Brousseau?

A: No.

Q: And were you visiting him as part of your job duties for the church of Scientology?

A: No, I was not.

After Tommy unequivocally swore that he went to Texas to see John Brousseau with three other people at 5:30 in the morning unannnounced and uninvited on his own initiative, not as directed by his supervisor, not having anything to do with his duties in the church, and solely based on his decision as a personal friend to do so, he swore as follows:

Q: How did you get to Texas to visit Mr. Brousseau?

A: On an airplane.

Q: Who paid for your airplane ticket?

A: The church.

Q: Did the church also pay for Angie, Bob and Laurance’s plane tickets?

A: Yes.

Q: And did the church pay for the vehicle that you were driving to go see Mr. Brousseau at the motel?

 A: Yes.

After all of that Tommy had the temerity to swear to the following under oath:

Q: What is a blow drill?

A: The only time that I have heard that term was in receiving media inquiries. It is not a term I was familiar with prior to being asked about it by the media. So the definition I have of it is from the media, which is that people leave and there is some sort of drill by which, that goes into play when they leave.

Q: Have you ever participated in what you have an understanding to be a blow drill?

A: I don’t believe I can answer that question, because I just explained that I don’t know what a blow drill is outside of what the media has asked me.  So I could not participate in something that I never heard of until I had been asked it by the media.

Oh yeah, then there are the documents that JB reminded me of:

Hi Marty.

Then there’s the “Incident Report” filed by Warren McShane as President of Religious Technology Center on 12 July 2010 with the Riverside County Sheriff. Further contradiction and evidence of Tommy’s lying is where it is reported:

“Mr. McShane summoned (4) church members/employees who knew JB the best and sent them to Texas to attempt to contact him and perhaps persuade him to return to the facility in Hemet, CA. According to Mr. McShane the four dispatched employees were able to contact JB in the lobby of the Best Western motel on April 26th or 27th 2010. The group tried to persuade JB to return with them. JB retreated to his room and refused to come out or speak with the group.”

Yet Tommy states he and the others went on their own volition and were not “sent”?

Further, when I was in the motel room after they tried to approach me, Tommy slipped the following handwritten note under the door:

“JB,

“This is nuts. We just want to talk. We’re here to resolve whatever is going on. But, you do need to understand the consequences of what has been done and what you’ve gotten yourself into personally. We have with us docs you have previously signed and which places you at risk. We mean you no ill will. We are not here to persuade you to come back. Rather, we hope we can reach an understanding whereby you abide by the covenants you have signed and we will refrain from further contact. We’re here because we’re your friends and wanted to help you do the least amount of damage to yourself and to Scn. We’ve come a long way to talk to you and have approached you in a straightforward way.

“I’m going to call you in room in five minutes so we can talk.

“We can end and resolve this simply and now.

“So, let’s just talk.”

Needless to say, the phone rang nearly incessantly after that, but I didn’t answer.

So, there’s more docs showing he is a liar.

It is 6 months now since I left. It still feels good!

JB

Quite apparently Miscavige is having great success in molding into his own character those still within the confines of his bunker

LRH arrives at Creston

by Steve “Sarge” Pfauth  

   Toward the end of my years as ‘rover’ I lived in an RV park in a small town called Devore. Devore was a little town north of San Bernadino California. I coined the term ‘Rover’ as I didn’t really have a post. During those years I just floated around and did backup stuff for Pat Broker and LRH. We used the Devore RV park for ‘meets’ with DM and JB and a safe place for Pat and I to operate from. .

Early 1983, after LRHs birthday in March, Pat brought a horse to Devore. The horse was a beautiful thoroughbred mare named ‘January’. January was a birthday present from Pat and Annie Broker to LRH. We found a local with a corral for rent in the town of Devore and I took care of ‘January’. I fed, brushed and curried her and would ride her around the corral bareback (didn’t have a saddle). She loved me and I her.

One day in early May ‘83’ Pat came with a horse trailer and we loaded January up and off they went. Pat also had me look for another RV park where we could park an

RV or vehicle. I found a place on hwy 95(?) west of Victorville, Cal. It was a little RV park tucked away in a box canyon in the mountains. Later on when I was courier at Creston I would use this park as a vehicle relay point to change vehicles before going to Int (S) or LA. Well, after the Beverly Hills restaurant thing where Pat and DM had me burning a 20 dollar bill, I knew something was up.

It was mid May of ‘83’ when Pat showed up at the Devore RV park and told me to

pack up my stuff. He said I was moving and wouldn’t be back. We drove for a long time and finally we arrived at the sleepy little town of Creston. Creston was a small town in the coastal range of California in San Luis Obispo county. This was horse country.

Kenny Rogers had a big horse ranch there. Creston had two bars (Longbranch and Loadingshute), a Church, a small school, Post office and a few houses. Whispering Winds Ranch was about a mile south of town on a private road.

Pat didn’t tell me where we were going until we made the turn south of Creston. Pat said I was going to a ranch to work for the ‘old man’. Pat told me that I needed to choose an AKA (also known as) name to use. We had the radio on and the group ‘Carpenters’ were singing ‘its only just begun’. So I said Carpenter. I needed to choose a first name and I had to eliminate other names I had used. I thought about it and I just wanted to be an ordinary ‘Joe’. So now I was ‘Joe Carpenter’.

We got settled in and Pat showed me around the ranch. I saw my old friend ‘January’ and she was as glad to see me as I her. I also met ‘Rojo’. Rojo was a large ‘American saddle’ horse that we got with the property. Rojo was suppose to be my horse. He was a gelding and had a great disposition. We got along fine.

I started to work the next day and met the electrical contractors that installed all the electrical for the RV hookups at the stables. I ran all the water lines and plumbing etc. I went to town and bought lots of tools etc to setup the place. The ranch had been neglected and was very run down after a messy divorce by the previous owner. The ranch looked bad but it had potential. Lots of work to do.

After a couple weeks of setups, about early to mid June, we had completed the setups and were ready for LRH. Pat took me for a walk and stopped me and said “Sarge! If you ever blow, I will track you down and I will kill you”. It was tone 40 and meant to impinge. Now, Pat and I didn’t always agree but we got along and I thought we were friends. This just blew my mind. Anyway he told me he was going to go get ‘the old man’ and Annie and to expect them mid to late afternoon.

I hung out at the stables and cleaned the stables apartment and took care of the horses etc and waited for his arrival. I was very nervous. I double checked everything.

There were two vehicles. The ‘Bluebird’ was a large bus converted into a motor home. The ‘Country Aire’was a 40 foot long trailer pulled by a truck. The ‘Bluebird’ entered the gate first and stopped about 50 yards from the stables next to the lake. Annie was driving. I was standing at the end of the stables when LRH came bounding out of the ‘Bluebird’ and yelled ‘SARGE!’. Yikes! Anyone who knew LRH can attest that he had a booming voice. Now all the neighbors knew he arrived. I was surprised and happy at the same time. I hurried to the Bluebird to greet him. By the time

I got there Annie was there beaming at me. She said ‘hello’ and gave me a big hug.

I don’t remember seeing LRH so excited. He was giddy. All smiles and I could tell he was happy to see me and finally have a home again. Wow!

LRH gave me a conspiratorial look and asked “what’s your handle”?

I said “Joe Carpenter”. He laughed and told me that was a great name. Made me feel good as I thought so too.

Then he said my name is ‘Jack Farnsworth’, and he laughed again. I told him that was a great name. We exchanged ‘shore stories’ so we were on the same page. Pat was Mike Mitchell, the owner of the property. Annie was Lisa Mitchell, Mike’s wife and LRH was Lisa’s father. I was Joe, a friend of the family hired to help run the property.

LRH stared at me, still smiling, and asked me “who do I look like”? I said I don’t know. He said “ no, really who do I look like”? He could tell I was uncomfortable so he said “Colonel Sanders!” He laughed again and then we all did. He really did. His hair was long and white with a little red and he had a beard and he was dressed like a southern gentlemen.

Pat and I got the RVs hooked up and everyone settled in while I cooked dinner. I setup a card table in the stables living room and we all sat around eating and talking. It was great. LRH loved what I cooked and that was the end of the first day at Creston.

Casablanca Tejas, population 4

 

After watching Clint Eastwood’s latest masterpiece Hereafter last night I was inspired to open a new forum. I highly recommend Hereafter to every Scientologist. There are many parallels in the experience of the protagonist (Matt Damon) to Scientologists and other spiritualists who perceive and act in the theta universe. The built-in prejudice and violent denial reaction to matters spiritual in this civilization was well portrayed. Doesn’t exist? Then, why were Mosey and I surveilled during the movie and all the way home? Contemplating the absurdity of such expensive spying at such an innocuous event, made me recognize that ultimately, this is why Miscavige spends millions in attempts to thwart us. It is our recognition of the theta universe, our agreement to not invalidate perception of it, and our use of Scientology to make it more real and permanent.

Hereafter illustrates how lonely and desperate life can become for those who recognize the spiritual in an environment that willfully remains ignorant of it. It prompted me to realize the corporate church’s war has had its toll. When I am doing what I do for a living, counsel Scientologists with Scientology, and I am in communication with those people to whom I apply Scientology, magical things happen quite routinely between us. Telepathic communications, effortless postulate realization, premonitions of great accuracy, the power of ARC over great distances, you name it. At bottom I attribute it to validation through recognition of theta and the theta universe as transcendent to the physical universe.

Most importantly, the movie artistically represented how as-isness occurs when a person seemingly alone with what the non-spiritually inclined write off as ethereal, nutty ideas unites with one or more others who see what he sees.

See the movie, please.

In the meantime, Mosey and I are preparing to move into new quarters down the canal from the Shack. We are doing so in order to be better prepared to deliver. Since the place is a little larger than a shack, and since it has a distinct all white exterior, and because South Texas is 65% latino – and once was Mexico until the US pulled off what President Ulysses S Grant called the most unjust land grab in the history of the world – we have named her Casablanca Tejas (original Spanish spelling for Texas), population 4.

As a coincidence, what goes on at Casablanca is much like the classic motion picture by the same name. All manner of refugee, patriot, spy, and counter spy find neutral territory by which to make safe passage to freedom in Casablanca. In addition to delivery of services we’ll continue to do what we can to get Lazlos on their flights. Besides, we all know now that I’ve been known to smoke and drink like Bogie. Ultimately, in addition to the playful nature of such titles, there is a long term purpose for dealing in such parables publicly. This will become abundantly clear later this week.

There is much to do on a number of fronts, offensive and defensive, to assure the survival and expansion of independence. And so Moving On Up A Little Higher will continue to expand. Many disparate viewpoints and even reasonable amounts of antagonism will continue to be entertained. But, in order to keep my focus – and others similarly inclined to keep theirs – and never again lose site of what the real purpose of this movement is, I have created a new blog: Casablanca Tejas, at http://casablancatejasmyblog.wordpress.com/. That forum is dedicated to people with a strong reality on the theta universe. I won’t be allowing trolls, antagonists and materialist commentary. It is dedicated to the spiritual, wins in attaining that with Scientology and enhancing that with continued study of wisdoms.

Welcome to Casablanca!

Daniel Montalvo – the latest

Daniel expresses his gratitude

Since escaping unscathed at the Sunset Blvd cafe, see https://markrathbun.wordpress.com/2010/10/09/montalvo-update-the-wild-wild-west/, Daniel has been enjoying his stay with a family that has accepted him and treated him as their own.  Realize that Daniel lived in the Sea Org from the age of four until the age of nineteen, never really experiencing what family is all about. In this time of crises, he is rapidly learning the true value and meaning of family.

Daniel was quite touched by your outpouring of concern, care, and genorsity.  He asked me to try to convey that to you all.  But, I don’t know whether words can really do the trick.  He is in awe of what you did.

Daniel is now represented by one of Los Angeles’ more accomplished lawyers, John Duran.   You can read about Mr. Duran here to get the idea, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Duran.    I believe, and more importantly Daniel believes, Mr. Duran has Daniel’s best interests at heart and  has the skill and wisdom necessary to help remove the dark clouds of two legal attacks (the larceny and the domestic matter) mounted by the Corporate church.

The fact that you all doubled the targeted retainer amount made this quality of representation possible. Thank you very much.

Here is the promised accounting of the Free Daniel Montalvo Fund:

Contributions: (150 contributors)                                             $13,150.30*

*after 3% Paypal handling fees and new Fund account set up charge

Disbursements:

Duran and Thomas (retainer for Daniel Montalvo matters)             $10,000.00

Tiziano Lugli  (re-imbursement for bail)                                                   $ 2,000.00

Marty Rathbun (re-imbursement for Daniel’s LA-Tpa airfare)      $      425.40

Daniel Montalvo                                                                                                  $      500.00*

*for living costs (note that the family is covering virtually everything, but several of you noted you wanted to get some cash into Daniel’s hands to use as he sees fit).

Balance:                                                                                                                          $224.90*

*to remain open pending both of Daniel’s legal matters being satisfactorily terminated.

If any contributor has any objection to these disbursements please email me at howdoesitfeel@hushmail.com for a refund.  Include your name and the amount contributed.

It is my view that it is best that  we let Daniel’s counsel go about disposing of these unconsionable attacks with as little noise and distraction as possible.  We will know soon enough if the fix is on. If it proves to be, I’ll be the first one on the ramparts hollering for volunteers.  

Thanks again to everybody.  The level of competence, speed and support demonstrated for this rescue and defense operation against the  Corporate Scientology empire is absolutely unprecedented.  Don’t ever forget the role you played, and are continuing to play, in it.

Warning: May be shocking for some, but it is one major reason we are here

How is this for a shocking graphic to start a post?  It’s my creation…. well, mostly. I stole it from CCHR.  It’s here for shock value, so don’t take it too seriously, okay?  

Approximately 9 months ago (or so — I’m bad with time, so take that for what it is worth), I approached Marty about writing an entry for his blog.  My angle?   Simple — hardcore critic — the guy who did the $cientology-KILLS website and T-shirts with OT-III, supports independant Scientologists.   Not the most earth shattering headline, I must confess.

I haven’t been active protesting Scientology in over a decade.  They were downright vicious when it came to shutting me down. I received the personal attentions of Dave Lubow.  What did they dig up on me?  Bounced checks and bad credit, basically. Having gone through a divorce over the years preceeding my activism, and being young, dumb, wildly irresponsible, and willing to waste a large percentage of my income to do things like …make t-shirts to give away or sell (at a loss! despite the Church’s PR that I profited wildly), probably made me an easy target.  Lubow even called my mother!   The man is truly a turd.  Sorry.

At the time, I also confessed to being Scamizdat (blogger note: maybe Mike can explain this, but I vaguely recall Scamizdat posted some upper level material and we tried to crush a harsh DM critic Grady Ward through civil litigation as the poster), as part of the Grady Ward case.  Even after going through deposition with Helena Kobrin (who still owes me muffins) and Eric Leiberman, they declined to accept my confession and still pushed forward against Grady.  Granted, my confession wasn’t enough for them to pin specific acts on me.  But I cost them tremendous amounts of money, and greatly enjoyed the telephone updates to DM throughout the deposition.  These updates were done in a room next door to the Deposition room, and hysterically, they didn’t realize that there was basically a window between the two rooms.  The “window” allowed myself, Grady and the transcriptionist unfettered audio access to their calls.   

It was funny, but at the time I failed to realize the significance.  That they would call DM (or perhaps it was even Marty on the other end!) (blogger note: wasn’t me, was it you Mike?) in response to a depo of some little guy who just had the stupidity/courage/something to stand up and say, “I am Spartacus!”

After the major Lisa McPherson protest in Clearwater — the protest where I met Bob Minton — the protest that I recruited Lawrence Wollersheim to join us on — the protest where I first met Dave Lubow (I’m such a name dropper!), I had Co-Organized the Boulder Colorado Protest.  The Boulder protests generated enough noise that they flew in Sylvia Stanard and Joe Neal (or O’Neal?) and some gal from Portland to handle me and mine.  

Great protest…We got Wollersheim and Bob Penny to protest side-by-side while Denver DSA Deb Danos held a sign saying “Wollersheim Used Penny.”

All in all, things went well.

During the protest there was an interesting exchange that I documented afterwards in an internet post which you can find here: 

http://groups.google.com/group/alt.religion.scientology/browse_thread/thread/6c4713c07f4c6dd8/14d28739143eaa78?hl (blogger note: contains reference to OT III data)

The whole thread is worth reading.

It went basically like this…  Joe Neal (O’Neal, I guess) confronted me during the protest and pointed to one of our fellow picketers (who had dressed up as the alien “Xenu”) and made the statement, “That is Bigotry”.     

I raised it as an issue then, and the moment never left me.   Was it bigotry?   Maybe.

Whether it was a fair point or not that Joe raised that day is really beside the point.   What followed is what makes that exchange particularly interesting.  

See, I started to ponder where the line between protest, complaint and bigotry was.   I wondered, to myself, if a scientology reformation were to occur, do I so hate the ideas that I couldn’t tolerate it?  Or do I mean what I say?   Would I tolerate a kinder, gentler scientology?

The years passed…  Lubow did his thing and shut me up.  Kobrin traded removal of my name from the churches blackPR pages for my scientology-kills.net domain. An action I still feel no small amount of shame for.  Although I should point out that the church did not uphold its side of the domain-name bargain.  I demanded poppy seed muffins, I was promised poppy-seed muffins… I never received them.  Criminals.

So, as I said, redundantly, a decade passed.  I did my own thing.  I caught glimpses of the “anonymous” uprising here and there in the news, and then Marty…   I found Marty’s page.    See, Marty was of particular interest to me in the last months of being a critic. I couldn’t believe what I was reading.  The man had left!   He was, from my limited understanding, the man behind the curtain on so many things.  I knew he was important, other critics knew he was important, but he was an enigma to me, just the same.    

Here he is… blogging.

So I have been reading.  I still find much of the “tech” repugnant to reason and science. But in the past year I have been reading Marty’s Blog and there’s this nagging question in the back of my head.   It’s really Joe Neal’s question… or maybe not, but at least owes its roots to Joe’s question…. 

It is, “Is this a brand of Scientology that I can co-exist with?”.    

It is, to me, proof that although my actions might have said “bigotry” in the past, that my mind and heart were not working from a place of bigotry at all.  In the end, I am not blind.

If Marty is Honest — and I have no reason to think otherwise — This is a Scientology that I can peacefully and happily co-exist with.  I am not arrogant enough to believe that you all NEED my validation.  But I wanted to give it anyway.

Marty?  If you back off of it one inch…  I will be here to protest you.   

I wish all of you, everyone…. the best of luck in saving your religion.  You have my support.

-Ray Randolph