Going Clear Movie Part 7, Propaganda re IRS and Scientology
transcript
Mark Rathbun:
Tony Ortega Propaganda on IRS and Scientology
At 1:05 they hit the IRS and they kick it off with Tony Ortega who says “there were 2,400 lawsuits, no only against the IRS but against individual IRS employees.” And so, the impression you get is that this was for harassment purposes because we’re doing this to hit the pocket books of individuals. Wrong. Federal law dictates the way you have to plead your lawsuit in the types of lawsuits dealt with. Freedom of Information Act, Privacy Act, etc. Under certain statutes you must name the agents individually. That doesn’t mean the guy has to go off and defend the lawsuit. He is defended by the government lawyers. But, he makes it sound in his tonality, like it is some important distinction (suing agents by name). No, it isn’t. It is a distinction with no difference. It is dictated by statute and it is meaningless. It doesn’t create any further inconvenience or expense for the individual who gets named.
Tax Exemption and Question of Religion
Lawrence Wright says at 1:09:20 says “this all leads to the question, how do you define religion?” It is a total non-sequitur because it is not even a question to be resolved in the tax exemption proceedings. That issue had already been dealt with for twenty years by the courts. Lawrence Wright says this, “the only organization entitled to make those distinctions is the IRS.” Lie. Any agency anywhere, state, federal, local has to make that distinction all the time. It is not just taxation. There are labor laws, there are ordinances in cities. It is common throughout the woof and warp of government from the lowest level to the highest federal level. The IRS does not have some special mandate from Congress that says, ‘you are the determiner of religion.’ And that is what Larry said here, and it is just an invention. It is a lie. He goes on, “its an agency very poorly equipped to do that. I mean, they are mainly accountants and lawyers. They are not theologians.” I just note an irony, nor is Larry Wright a theologian, right? But, he can riff all he wants to and he can set the anti Scientology narrative and the accepted narrative in the public’s mind as to religion in America. But, according to Wright, the IRS can’t and they are not equipped to make that determination. But, he goes on, “but, it’s the only opinion that matters.” He’s talking about the IRS. Untrue, the IRS’ opinion has not mattered since 1967 when they lost in Federal Court in the Hawaii Church of Scientology tax case and there has been an accumulating number of court precedents from Federal District Courts to Federal Appellate Courts to the United States Supreme Court to Supreme Courts in many lands that have made that question moot. It has been decided. They are like the regressives they want to roll this back to 1950. That’s what he is trying to do here. It is done. You can’t undo it. You can’t put the toothpaste back in the tube. The IRS’ opinion is meaningless now (as in 1992/3) on whether Scientology is a religion or not. It is meaningless. It is res judicata. It has already been decided. And then Wright goes on, “Once the IRS has decided that you are a religion, then you are protected by the vast protections of the First Amendment.” False! And he’s sitting there like he’s taking the audience to school, because he is the expert and he knows it; yet everything he is saying here is just absolutely false. And he knows it is false, because I spent hours going through this with him and showing him and citing to him the decisions that I am talking about here.
Alex Gibney piles on like a three stooges skit
So, with that profundity, Alex Gibney piles on with, at 1:10:30 “the war ended (between the IRS and Scientology) because the IRS surrendered.” Like they literally got in their bunkered and waved a white flag. I went through this for days and gave Wright tomes of material, and specific facts, and the whole timeline to show that this was utter and complete horse shit.
Moving On Up a Little Higher 