Category Archives: ot 8

The New Israeli Advanced Organization

Claudio and Renata Lugli just arrived home to Italy from a Power mission to Israel.  Their purpose was to assist in the set up of the first Independent Advanced Scientology Organization in the Middle East.

As a result, Dani and Tami Lemberger’s Dror (Freedom) center is now delivering OT Levels auditing and training through OT VII.

The Dror Center delivers most of the Bridge in Hebrew, Arabic, Russian, and English.   It is an international marvel.

Dror has established the Israeli Independents blog, see it here in Hebrew.

UPDATE from Dani:

Hello Marty and Friends, this is Dani. thank you for posting the news and your responses. Just a few comments:
1. We are getting ready to deliver Solo NOTs, 6 guys will soon start on it.
2. We are not “the first Independent AO in the Middle East”. We are, “the first AO in the Middle East.”
3. This achievement was made possible thanks to the dedication and determination of those preserving the tech and making the tech available to all – Marty, Claudio, Jim Logan and many more. Our gratitude to you.
4. We wouldn’t make it without our staff, dedicated to Ron and courageous to do the right thing in the face of vicious attacks by those with vested interests whose monopoly we are bringing down.
5. Tami and I got on the Bridge at COSMOD San Francisco in 1980. In 1982 Martin Samuels, the founder of COSMOD, whom I never met, was declared SP and the huge COSMOD network disbanded. We vowed in 1980 to dedicate our lives to the Clearing of the Planet. We have always maintained our total loyalty to Ron. Ron has placed spiritual freedom and immortality within the grasp of all Men. Having realized that, shortly after starting in 1980, we decided to dedicate ourselves to his vision.
6. Over the past few years, it became starkly clear these goals cannot be achieved within the Cof S. This organization has been hijacked to promote other ends. We had to leave, are happy to be out and are doing great.
Thank you for your support. Love, Dani

While in Haifa Claudio did a video taped briefing to the staff and public of Dror on the history of the hijacking of Scientology, and the way to take it back.  I think it is well worth watching as you manage time to (98 minutes total).  It is in three You Tube segments.  You can link to the second two segments at You Tube once you watch the first one here:

The Luglis Reveal Truth in Italy

A rather significant front-page article ran this week in a major Italian newspaper.   One of its subjects, Renata Lugli, wrote a short introduction to the piece.   It precedes the article below.

Anyone that studied and understood the materiel contained in the PTS SP Course , knows that suppression decreases when the person can do something about it.

If I have to choose from the many suppressions that I received from David Miscavige, thanks to his deadly tentacles of his “church”, the one that was most damaging was the violent intrusion in the very personal matters that relate to my family .

No church, that can call itself a church, can assume this right. But this conduct has been pursued by the use of third parties with a vicious ability to turn theta truth into ENtheta perversions.

The effect that David Miscavige wanted to create in doing that was to instill in my son Flavio, a Flag Staff, an unnatural sense of hatred toward me, with the purpose of convincing him to work against me and my family by having him perform the ungrateful task of spying on us and report to OSA.

The intention of David Miscavige and his minion in OSA was to “punish” me and my husband because we did not wanted to disconnect from the other son of ours Tiziano, that left the Corporate Scientology . Even after Marion Pow and Mike Sutter (RTC/OSA mission) had come to Brescia and stayed for one week to convince us to disconnect from Tiziano and after that our son Flavio was for hours on the phone trying to convince us to do the same. The famous or better infamous policy of Disconnection!

For two long years I had to bear this suppression, till the case of Karen De La Carriere/Alexander Jentzch made it explodeIt was exactly then that I took a firm decision: it is our duty to make the Italian public aware of what David Miscavige and his minions are doing.

And by “chance” after a week I met with the news reporter Leonardo Piccini that works for LIBERO and thanks to his interest in the matter we have been able to send back the flow to David Miscavige & Co. to balance the flow we as a family received from them.

What was Miscavige expecting when he designed all of his plan against my family? That a mother would let someone steal her son and would just take the violence and abuse of that and stay silent? Just look at someone destroying the most precious things that one has:, his/her family, and just sit in a corner like a beaten dog and do nothing?

David Miscavige does not have the faintest idea to which extent a mother will go.

He can possibly stop the President of The United States with his lobbying, but he will not stop a mother!

I want to cite to you a sentence taken from a song that Lisa Marie Presley just wrote, and this goes to David Miscavige:

“You haven’t seen nothing yet!”

You should have known that you better not touch a family, and you should have learned this lesson from Sun-Tzu:

There are roads one does not follow.There are armies one does not strike.There are cities one does not attack.There are grounds one does not contest.There are commands of the sovereign one does not accept.

-Renata Lugli

The Exposure of The Designer Lugli

‘I WAS ONE OF THE BOSSES OF SCIENTOLOGY AND NOW I TELL YOU THE  TRUTH ABOUT THE CULT’

Written by LEONARDO PICCINI

The accusations do not come from a nobody, but from a major figure in Scientology, who starting from 1974 has done all of the awareness steps required to reach the top called OT VIII. This person is Claudio Lugli. He is a fashion designer.

§§§§§§§

THE PERSONAL STORY

I Will Explain What Kind Of A Nightmare Scientology Is

The Fashion Designer Claudio Lugli has been for years a leader in the Church founded by Hubbard. Since he and his wife got out: ‘They take away from you your money and your dignity. They even took a son from us!

…. He is a fashion creator, dressed people like Miles Davis, Pino Daniele or movie stars like John Travolta, and Chick Corea, but also the charismatic leader of the church founded by Hubbard, David Miscavige.

We meet in a luxurious loft in Brescia, and words flow like a river: “Me, my wife Renata and our two sons Flavio and Tiziano have been following Scientology since ever. We have been amongst the pioneers and the founding members of the Church of Hubbard in Italy, and we took great care in expanding and financing its operations. But today we decided to end with the Miscavige Organization”

“It has not been an easy decision, because it is never easy to find out a truth that makes vanish, just in one shot, 36 years of dedication and support to values that have been trampled on used just to support greed and personal interests.”

Because his majesty David Miscavige, lives the high life, the thousands of Scientologists that are still part of his cult  are totally unaware of this.

Renata Lugli is even more direct: “We found out that through the years a lot of things changed and that ‘Church Management’ betrayed the faith and the ideals in which we believed in”

To follow the story has been necessary to address issue that every Scientologist has at heart and discuss of what is happening in Hemet, California, the International Base where David Miscavige lives.

“For us is not easy to talk” – says Renata – “because one of our sons Flavio , a 35 years old boy, is still inside what I define as the MISCAVIGE CORPORATE Scientology. He lives in Clearwater Florida, north of Tampa, and it is 15 years that he is working as an auditor in the Sea Org, the advanced organization of Scientology. People there are made to work even 20 hours a day, sleep in a modest room and have a salary of $ 20 a week. But when you talk about Miscavige … things change. A friend of ours worked directly under him in the “Special Personal Service Unit”. This unit is reserved only for Miscavige and his wife. While other staff members almost starve he spends more than a  $1,000 just on food per week”

Miscavige and his wife have one Chef full time working for them plus an assistant Chef and several stewards and butlers. The head of Scientology eats every two hours, and he follows a specific diet, a low fat diet.

“Naturally all the food must be extremely fresh and of the best quality available. And for lunch and dinner Miscavige must have two different choices always available to him , and this means a 4 full course menu for two different people every single day”

Salmon for Miscavige comes fresh from the East Coast of USA or Canada, but the lamb must be only the one coming from New Zealand that has been fed by a special kind of corn. And steaks?  Everything absolutely biological, like filet mignon first quality.

“When Miscavige celebrate his birthday or when he is having guest of the caliber of Tom Cruise  – (The actor has been a Scientologist since years now-)  Claudio lugli says – everything becomes even more  fancy and extravagant: preparations began even 3 or 4 days ahead and servants have to follow a special “wish list” . And if what the master Chef created is not considered good enough, then, orders are placed in the best and most fancy restaurants available, and there is no limit, because the boss needs to be satisfied.  Foie Gras and truffle are the norm.”

And let’s talk about his residence:

“It is comparable to royalty, things not even imaginable to the Sea Org rank and file or the regular Scientologist.”

Miscavige owns fabulous buildings in Gilman Hot Spring, in Los Angeles and at Flag. In England he even has a castle at his disposal.

“Everything has been designed and custom made for him, only the very best and state of the art is used furniture wise”

Miscavige has a fleet of cars that only international collectors normally have, and also a large number of bikes and:
“If there is anything expensive that he does not own yet , there is no problem, it will be put in the next birthday or Christmas wish list “

Mrs Renata adds: “Per what Mr Hubbard wrote, money donated by parishioners had to be used to disseminate Scientology, they have never been intended to make live a life of luxury to somebody at the helm of the church. Hubbard never lived a kind of life like that, with such a flaunted style of life like Miscavige does, and this is also another proof of how much the original ideals of Scientology have been betrayed.”

And Mr Lugli adds:

“Miscavige invented a new, perverted mechanism to take money from the parishioners: the so called “Ideal Orgs”. I saw with my very eyes, in Padova at an event, a lady going up on stage and announce to a crowd of Scientologist that she would donate the three apartments she had just got as an inheritance fron her parents to the “Ideal Org Project”, the Scientologist were in ecstasy.

And what can we say about Mr Richie Acunto, he was rewarded as “Diamond Meritorious” because he had donated something like 10 million dollars to the “Ideal Org”! Richie was a good friend of Tiziano, my son, he married Tiziano and Jamie, but the point is that part of the money he had donated have been used to hire and pay something like 50 Private Investigators that for MONTHS besieged my son house in Hollywood because he had left the Church. Richie Acunto shortly after went bankrupt with his company the “Survival Insurance”, a huge insurance company, but this was of no interest to Miscavige. He has a very big team of people that specialize in fund raising, they even go to the parishioner house in the middle of the night and force him to pay some money.

It looks like that a parallel organization named IAS has accumulated funds in the order of a billion dollars.

But Miscavige’s perversion knows no boundaries: like a new born Caligula, that became famous because he appointed his horse as Senator, so Miscavige decided “to put the rank bars” to his dog and appointed the dog Captain. And if the dog barks at you that’s a sign that you “are out ethics” and so you will be punished.

“Ethics” in Scientology is a word that comes up continuously.

“If you are there you are like a prisoner in the STASI” – says Renata – “Things keep getting worse and worse, sons and daughter are estranged from their families, and they can keep just casual contact by phone with their parents or family members, and there is always somebody there listening and monitoring their calls.  You have to report each other to the “Ethics Officer”., he is the person that has to know everything so that things run smoothly without ANY external influence. And if your family thinks differently, or worse get out of the Church, they are considered immediately “apostate”, and barred for ever.” Renata keeps on telling me: “One week ago a boy that had just turned 27, his name is Alexander, died in very obscure circumstances. His father is Heber Jentzch, the President of The Church of Scientology International, but his mother, one of the highest trained auditor on the planet, and directly trained by Hubbard, was not allowed to see her dead son. The Church had imposed to Alexander not to have any contact whatsoever with his mother . This type of behavior is called “DISCONNECTION”, and now this practice became very usual and families are thrown in despair because of it.

But I would have never thought that this practice could go beyond death! That situation troubled me very much, because I have a son too that disconnected from us, two years ago, when we decided to leave Scientology.”

“In Scientology, a follower can be punished” her husband says- “they use what they call the RPF, Rehabilitation Project Force; it is in essence like forced labor, and you have to clean toilets, paint a wall, and various menial jobs for 8 hours a day, plus 4 hours you have to study, And this goes on for years, for some even more than 10 years. And what about THE HOLE ? That’s a place where staff members are kept against their will for weeks and weeks, intimidated and prisoners, and they have to sleep on the floor and eat some slop – armed guards are always present , movement sensor are in place, and doors are locked. Plus there is the constant threat of physical violence, and people in the HOLE are subjected to physical and mental degradation of the worst kind.”

MISCAVIGE IS ACCUSED BY EX MEMBERS IN USA

IN THE USA THE SUPREME LEADER BEATS HIS JUNIORS .

ONE OF THEM WAS TREATED LIKE A PUNCHING BALL

Scientology in the USA is under a very serious schism problem. Some ex members are giving unprecedented accounts of information on what happened at the highest levels of their organization.

Those are statements that are coming from the highest ranks and people broke the conspiracy of silence and started giving interviews to the media.

People like Tom De Vocht that was managing for years the “Headquarters” of the Church in Clearwater – Or Amy Scobee, that was managing the network dedicated to all the celebrities in Scientology – a key figure that had daily contact with people of the caliber of John Travolta or Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes or the like. And even more, top managers like Marty Rathbun that worked almost his entire life together with David Miscavige, as second in command, handling legal affairs.

Or Mike Rinder  for 20 years the head of OSA the Office of Special Affarirs: they left Scientology and decided to give very detailed and strong interviews like the one they all gave to the St. Petersburg Times, in where they reveal the methods that David Miscavige used to keep his power.

Miscavige in 1986 became the undisputed leader of Scientology. Miscavige is 49 and is described by many as being very charismatic.

Many call him just COB, because he is the Chairman of The Board – basically the owner of the Church now, Church that was founded back in 1954 .

The ex members are accusing Miscavige of physical violence , a reality that is permeating the whole of Scientology. Mike Rinder even said that: “I have been beaten more than 50 times by Miscavige”. Rathbun, Rinder, De Vocht they also admit of beatings they did and they did it to “show the boss of what they were of “.

De Vocht says that there is no particular reason why people are beaten or abused by Miscavige: “Miscavige goes crazy for nothing, it is enough that what you say to him something that is not what he was expecting from you. And it could be something that happens, just for his whim – it can be the way you looked at him, or because you were too slow in answering his questions.”

There is a list of people that have been abused and Rathbun and Rinder made this list public in interviews:

Marc Yager: “Has been beaten about 20 times, he was treated like a punching bag”

Guillame Lesevre, about ten times, and Ray Mithoff was regularly beaten very violently on the head and strangled or thrown on the ground – per what Rathbun said.

Rathbun also says that Mike Rinder has been beaten at least a dozen times.

For Rinder: “Was not much the physical pain, but was the humiliation . Because you cannot defend yourself, you cannot raise your hands against the boss.”

But their accusations go beyond that and they say: “ Staff are disciplined with a justice system that include “public” confessions of your sins and the isolation of the sinner and he/she is sentenced to manual forced labor.”

Those are all very heavy accusations and more: “The Church has covered the Lisa McPherson death case. They made a mess trying to take care of her , but Lisa Mc Pherson died after was kept isolated for 17 days at the Fort Harrison Hotel in Clearwater.”

Rathbun was in charge of handling the resulting mess media wise, and he admits to: “I ordered the destructions of incriminating proofs and documents.”

LEONARDO PICCINI

THE QUESTIONS THAT LIBERO ASKED TO SCIENTOLOGY

Libero for several weeks tried to get the following questions answered by the people responsible for Scientology in Italy, but no answers were given.

Here are the questions:

  1. What are the aims of Scientology?
  2. In which areas of the society Scientology  operates?
  3. How many followers there are in the world, and in particular haw many in Italy?
  4. David Miscavige is the highest in rank in Scientology?
  5. How are the living standards of your religious leader, related to a normal member of your Church?
  6. Is it true that David Miscavige owns  luxury cars and bikes
  7. We were informed that many families  because of your policy of “Disconnection” have been separated. Does this policy exists. If so how does it works?
  8. What are and how do work the “Ideal Orgs” . What are the services they offer to followers and members of your Church?
  9. How many people left the Church so far?
  10. What is your attitude toward two famous of those high ranking ex members like Marty Rathbun and Mike Rinder?
  11. What are you saying in relationship to the very precise accusations that Debbie Cook gave under oath in an American Court of Law, in where she talked about THE HOLE and the abuses she experienced   while there?

LINK: FOR THE ORIGINAL IN ITALIAN

Scientology And Saving The World

In 1950 L. Ron Hubbard burst onto the scene tackling the attainment of the ends of Eastern spiritualism with the practicality mindset of Western materialism.   He developed two related subjects toward that end, Dianetics, and its outgrowth, Scientology.  Within two to three years he had described in pratical English terms having seen the universal truths as outlined in the Vedas and in the Tao Te Ching.  He also described modern exercises that he discovered and developed to bring others to that experience.  He spent the rest of his life attempting to undercut the route so that virtually anyone from any station in life or of whatever educational background could traverse it.  In that effort to reach and effect all, matters eventually became complicated.  An insidious parallel to helping and saving all peoples of earth evolved throughout Scientology writings.  That is, the stress became not so much to make Scientology accessible to everybody as much as to make Scientology mandatory for everyone.  This approach led to a type of dual personality for the subject.  On the one hand it intended to release an individual from the restraints of life and to restore freedom of choice.  On the other hand, it usurped freedom of choice and imposed restraints in the attempt to get every person there.

Control and restraint themes developed throughout Scientology writings.  It was justified by the repeated idea that Dianetics and Scientology contain the answers to every problem and every question that every person ever faced; with the repeated emphatic idea that no one else has anything of use to contribute to those answers.  The theme was evident in a substantial body of proselytization and ethics policy that justified any means necessary to leading the clueless to the only show in town. These policies dedicatedly applied wound up appealing to a broad spectrum of people as intended.  That included people who wanted to communicate better, to find their sanity, to improve memory, to sell more, to be more successful, to have more meaningful relationships, to make more money, to dominate and control others, to reach higher states of spiritual awareness, to be more powerful, to get off drugs, to learn how to study, and even to reach immortality.  In promoting to all those looking for these answers and more, and representing to those publics that those wants were all that Scientology was interested in helping them with, all the while intending and organizing to direct such people toward ultimately making Scientology the answer to everything weaved a strain of fraud into the woof and warp of its organizations.

Fraud requires as its central element the making of a misrepresentation that the communicator knows is false.   In the case of Scientology, the recurrent, systemic knowing lie has nothing to do with the lack of efficacy of Scientology itself. When a Scientologist tells somebody that Scientology contains the answer to his problem, as well as every answer to every problem that person will ever face, that Scientologist believes that representation implicitly. The knowing misrepresentation that virtually every Scientologist is guilty of making over and over again is that whatever particular problem a seeker wants solved is the only problem the Scientology organization is interested in solving.  In fact, Scientology scripture very methodically details how to use the solving of a particular problem as the bait to be switched toward creating a new bigger problem for the bait biter to pursue.  Scientologists will vehemently protest my use of words such as “misrepresentation” and “fraud.”   But, the fact of the matter is that many of the significant problems that have nagged or lessened the reach of Scientology organizations stemmed from this inculcated lie.

This is not to say that Scientology does not contain the tools to solve every problem every person faces.  A trained Scientologist is well equipped to solve a wide variety of human problems.   In fact, selflessly and ethically practiced Scientology does wonders in putting a person into a position where he or she is well equipped to resolve any problem he or she may encounter.  However, in carrying out Scientology policy that requires everlasting steadfast loyalty and fealty to the organization, the organization is hard-wired to ensure a person never believes he or she is so equipped. It is quite a trick.  In order to enforce that fealty and loyalty – and its concomitant, escalating contributions -there must always be something more wrong with the person being handled. And so, all too often a fellow works his way up the Scientology gradients of enlightenment for decades, spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in the pursuit of the promised state of ‘cause over life.’   In virtually every case the fellow winds up being convinced to spend several tens or hundreds of thousands more to find out and solve why he never made the vaunted state of ‘cause over life.’

Again, this is not to say that the methods of Scientology cannot produce such a state.  It is to say that the effectiveness of Scientology is never realized because of the original, well-embedded lie that Scientology organizations are not interested in anything other than providing help with whatever is troubling the person who reaches for help.  Intead, the organzations are constructed on the principle that once a person checks in, he or she never checks out.  Individuals connected to Scientology organizations are programmed to find another problem to solve for the seeker.  If they cannot find one, they manufacture it. Let’s examine more closely how it works in practice.

Let us say that a fellow wants to overcome problems with communication.   Scientology offers and delivers a course on communication that thousands have extolled the virtues of.  However, Scientology Inc. staff are bound by policy that prohibits the leaving of good enough alone.  It penalizes staff who fail to immediately ‘re-sign’ anyone who successfully completes a course.   While the course might be a complete success in the eyes of the person who took it, it is an utter failure as far the organization is concerned if that same person does not immediately open his wallet and lay down more money for more expensive courses or pricey personalized counseling.  Again, that is not to say that the expensive courses and counseling are not worthy.  It is to say that Scientology organizations are prohibited by their scripture from ever leaving good enough alone.  They operate on policy that uses Scientology’s knowledge of the mind to manipulate all those who complete course or counseling services to re-sign for more expensive future services.

Scientologists are blind to the bait and switch nature of their own day to day operations for a couple reasons.  First, they justify the hustle by the efficacious results that Scientology services can and do deliver.  Second, that justification is reinforced and complicated by a steady indoctrination into the idea that mankind is doomed, non-Scientologists are worse than aimless, and the only answers to everything – including immortality – are covered only in Scientology.

It might be that Scientology’s greatest sin stems from its greatest original virtue.  It might be that the policy discussed herein was initially developed out of an abiding, strong urge to salvage humankind.  However, like every movement throughout humankind’s history that has begun perpetrating harm once it is convinced it is the only one capable of ‘saving the world’, organized Scientology seems to have perfected the art of ‘controlling’ in the name of ‘freeing.’

This state of affairs led to my posing the question, ‘is organized religion an oxymoron?’

Being someone who finds tremendous value in the Buddha’s philosophy of the Great Middle Path, and L. Ron Hubbard’s use of infinity logic (there are no absolutes but instead an infinity of gradients at either side of 0 on any scale), I am interested in hearing peoples’ views as to the answer to the question posed.

UPDATE:

As a couple at least have challenged me to show any evidence whatsoever that Scientology Policy encourages bait and switch trickery, I picked up the 1140 page policy volume Scientology on sales and within a couple minutes found the two exerpts below.  The first is from Policy Letter entitled HANDLING THE PUBLIC INDIVIDUAL:
Example: Miss N has heard of processing.  She wants some.  She never did DECIDE to want some.  She just wants some. Now to ask her to decide ANYTHING about it blunts that purpose.  It is a thin purpose.  It quivers.  Don’t ask her does she want a book or want training or want a pin or want anything else. Say only, ‘Ah. You want processing.  That’s a good thing to want.  Be here Monday and bring ________ funds.’  That’s all. If she says timidly, “I only have _____ funds,” say, “Good. Bring them; you can owe the rest.  Be here on Monday.  In short MAKE Miss N RIGHT for WANTING, thus intensifying the want.  Make her RIGHT when she talks about money.  Then, being right she CAN come in Monday.  Simple.  Chances are, even if she works, she’ll still come in.  When she comes in she says, ‘I’m Miss N.  I’m here for my processing.’  Reception MUST say, “Ah.  You’re Miss N. Good. There’s the Accounts widow.  Sign up there.’ The Accounts says, ‘Here’s the slip.  Sign here.  Take the slip to Room _____.’  Reception says, ‘This way Miss N.’  Estimations says, “let me have your Accounts receipt.  Good.  That’s fine. Have you been processed before?  No?  Well, you soon will be.  This way please.  Your auditor is waiting.” The auditor says, “Over here, please,’ adjusts the pc’s chairs, etc., and sits down and says, “Start of session.”  At its end he says, ‘Be in this room at _______’ for Miss N’s next.  And so on.  When she gets her grade certificate she’s told, ‘That means you’re a Grade I preclear.  Get the book ____________down in Reception.  It will tell you all about Grade II.’  Miss N throughout is NEVER anything but 8-Ced. The general promotion told her what to want by saying she could HAVE it.  She expresses the want.  The org people say, “That’s a good thing to want.  You can have it.  And gives it to her.  That’s all. Just as you’d never ask a pc which command he wanted, you never as the public individual to decide.  You can teach them anything, particularly the truth.  But never ask them to decide.  By processing up the grades, this person will soon begin to see and be there and understand and decide.  And she’ll surely decide she’s a Scientologist, as it’s true all the way!’
Now, combine that with HCOPL 28 DECEMBER 1978 USE OF BIG LEAGUE SALES:
The caper is to assume the individual has already chosen to buy a specific item and then to get him to make some minor choice about it which involves him and makes him assume he has decided to purchase it.  It is a technique to bypass a large decision.  EXAMPLE: Person hasn’t decided to have processing, salesman ignores that and asks him if he wants his auditing afternoons or evenings.  The guy says evenings and forgets to notice he hasn’t decided to be processed in the first place.

Allender and Miscavige: Peas in a Botox, Roids Pod

Please see this.  It is a an utterly racist, xenophobic, sexist, political statement by David Miscavige and his dysfunctional Scientology Inc.

Now, I ask you, is the following a more accurate, rational, sane positioning for this fellow?  I won’t condemn you if you disagree.  Please express your true feeling on this one.  John Allender has perfectly snapped terminals with his demigod David Miscavige.

If you lack reality on the latter, go here and read, and I suggest it will make perfect sense:

What Is Wrong With Scientology?

“Courageous”?  “Hero”? :   https://markrathbun.wordpress.com/2011/08/17/car-wash/

What Is Wrong With Scientology? Is Now Available

Order your copy at Amazon Books here: What Is Wrong With Scientology?

Excerpt from Chapter Seven – Confessional:

 In this wise, a new moral code is imposed upon individuals, covertly and against their own determinisms.  It is exacerbated by repeated questioning about the individual’s failure to report on other Scientologists.  After a while, a corporate Scientologist modifies her behavior accordingly, in order to avoid more security checks.  She not only edits her own behavior and thoughts, she attempts to do the same with Scientologist friends and family members, so that she does not get into trouble for overlooking such transgressions of others.  Thus, a process that was originally intended to free a person from the self-imposed mental prison she has created by her own inability to live up to what she considers right and ethical conduct becomes reversed.  The preclear is instead forced to agree to a new mental prison, imposed by the organization based on what it decrees to be right or wrong.  In short, the process replaces a person’s native judgment with a new judgment of its own.  In practice, it is a dark and painful operation, making a person less self-determined and more other-determined.

    It seems that the only solution open to corporate Scientologists to cope and carry on within their culture is to become moralists.  Moralists who enforce on self and others morals which have been implanted.  If corporate Scientologists police their own conduct fastidiously enough, and interfere enough with the behavior and conduct of their fellows, they reckon they might be spared the cost, embarrassment and pain of being ordered to further batteries of security checks. In fact, that is the only behavior that does avoid continual, expensive, and degrading security checks in corporate Scientology.

    This is yet another example of Scientology Inc.’s  reversal of end product.  Confessional technology was developed with the purpose to help an individual recognize she is the cause of her own destiny – and it has a long history of realizing that purpose.  This priceless technology has been twisted and corrupted to the point where now the individual winds up with her destiny blueprinted and dictated by the church.

    These blueprints are enforced through a related – and now similarly corrupted – technology of Scientology: the technology of ethics.

Order your copy from Amazon Books at, What Is Wrong With Scientology?

related stories:

Remedy of Black Dianetics

What Is Wrong With Scientology?

Ten Commandments of Scientology Inc.

Meet The Editors

The Virus That Killed Scientology Inc. 

Another OT VIII Has Seen The Truth Revealed

This is the story of how Halina Cirillo fell in and out of love with the Church of Scientology.

A bit of background about myself.  I was in Scientology for 40 years, on staff in Toronto through most of the 70s.   My original post was Director of Processing which I held for 3 years and was then recruited into the Guardian’s Office and held the post of  DG PR CAN.  As D of P I had 18 auditors in the HGC and our well done auditing hours at that time have never been matched since.  I left the GO in disgust in the late 70s after being shown confidential session data about my brother.  Then I became a public Scientologist, very active in the Church.  I am OT VIII, mid St Hill Special Briefing Course and am IAS “Patron with Honours.”  I have been successful enough in my business career to have been able to donate in excess of half a million dollars between the Bridge and other Scientology campaigns.

I resigned from the Church of Scientology on June 1, 2011 while I was still in good standing.

My adventure in Scientology began in the winter of 1971 when I witnessed a startling change in my brother within two months of his becoming a Scientologist.  He literally turned his life around.  This prompted me to visit the Toronto Org.   I threw myself into Scientology wholeheartedly.  I observed and experienced Scientology working fantastically well in the 70s but I started to notice things changing in regards to the application of the technology in the late 80s.  The biggest change I saw then was that the freedom of how to apply the tech, including personal ethics conditions, was no longer my choice – instead, the Church began to more and more dictate what tech to apply and when and how to apply it.

The following major incidents helped open my eyes as to the real state of affairs in today’s Church of Scientology:

1.    In 1989 I was told that three Toronto public Scientology opinion leaders wrote 300 reports about me which, based on what I was told, I considered to be mainly false and misleadingThe then CO WISE CAN (Mary Ann Frith) got involved and, based on these false reports, CSWed the International Justice Chief in an attempt to have me declared without a Committee of Evidence.  A non enturbulation order was issued on me. When I learned of these reports (none of which were shown to me) I immediately flew to AOSHUK in England to get any necessary handling.  I was security checked and plant checked and nothing of significance came up.  I did an ethics program and returned to Toronto hoping and expecting this would remedy the situation. Unfortunately, it did not.

In a last ditch effort to handle this insanity I compiled a comprehensive rebuttal document which I forwarded to ED Int requesting a Committee of Evidence at Flag.  This was granted.  The Committee of Evidence was held in Toronto several years later.

I was ordered to more security checking at Flag and had to do a major, punitive ethics cycle.  My Flag auditor doing the security checking was dumbfounded that I had been ordered to do this again.  Nevertheless, I completed all the recommendations of the Committee of Evidence.  Even after doing all this it took me well over a year to get the non enturbulation order lifted.

The then CO OSA CAN (Janet Laveau) told me years later that these three people intentionally planned a campaign to get me declared.  To my knowledge none of these individuals were corrected.

The lesson I learned from this was that my Church, supposedly operating on truth, does not always practice what it preaches

2.  When I first began auditing on OTVII in 1994, the required 6 months checks were very short (3-4 days).  After the Golden Age of Tech for OTs came out (1996) things changed.  I couldn’t understand why security checking became more pronounced the higher I went up the Bridge.  I previously never had any objection or resistance to doing appropriate ethics cycles which resulted in release of charge.  After 1996 the 6 months checks consisted mainly of security checks laced with a presumption that one was really out ethics.  Despite having no real difficulty with my Solo auditing, the continuous security checking brought about a tremendous degree of introversion.  I couldn’t count the number of times I red tagged as a result of the security checking.

Part of the introversion was that for some time I thought this was just me, however, I later gradually found out from others on OT VII that they were encountering similar difficulties.

To complete OT VII is a humongous cycle.  I finally did so in 2005.  Before being allowed on the Freewinds to do OT VIII the Freewinds insisted I had to be security checked at Flag again.  This introduction for the first time to the Freewinds didn’t leave me with a warm, fuzzy feeling.  It didn’t get warmer and fuzzier.  I arrived on the Freewinds expecting that the summit of Scientology service delivery would epitomize the greatest amount of ARC anywhere.  Instead, I couldn’t believe the bad control I experienced.

Everything was micro managed to the hilt.  For example, I had some difficulty sleeping on the ship and needed to exercise in the evening to be fully sessionable the next day.  In the middle of my workout, all sweaty, I was ordered to the HGC and questioned by the Tech Sec why I wasn’t in session at 8 pm.  I never felt less free in my whole life and couldn’t wait to finish the service.  When I did finish OT VIII the examiner missed my FN and didn’t call it.  I was devastated.  Later on, she called me back and told me she missed it.  I was never so glad to leave.

The lesson learned here was that there is a tremendous dichotomy existing in corporate Scientology today.  For example, LRH says communication is the universal solvent but, in my opinion and experience, the Church prohibits free communication in many ways.  Corporate Scientology exerts stifling control over its parishioners – by the time one gets on OT VII one’s power of choice has been almost wiped out by the introversion they have brought about.

3.  In early 2000 while on OT VII I wrote to RTC requesting help with a cycle inToronto.  I was not satisfied with the way RTC handled the matter so I wrote to Executive Director International (Guillaume Lesevre) about it and I was subsequently dead filed by RTC.  I learned of this on my next 6 months check from an irate Flag MAA who assigned me a lower condition for questioning RTC and I had to do a major ethics cycle.

The lesson learned here was RTC won’t allow you to question them – if you do, you get dead filed.

4.      I was involved in an ongoing business dispute with my now ex partner (an OT VIII).   I decided to end the partnership and in late 2006 I proposed a 50/50 split which would have been a win/win arrangement.  He refused outright.  I tried for the next 18 months to resolve this directly between us.  This whole incident should have been a simple and easily resolved business partnership dispute.  It is the practice in Scientology that Scientologists are expected to use the services of WISE to get business disputes resolved rather than using the courts of law.  The involvement of WISE starting in 2008, and subsequently that of the Church, turned it into an incredibly arduous, punitive and costly cycle for me in particular.   In the Summer of 2008 my ex partner was on the Freewinds and, soon after returning, he advised me that the Freewinds MAA Samantha told him “to take control of the company and be at cause”.

Because of a legal gag order I am unable to go into all the details of what took place.  I can say that a WISE mediation was held in Fall 2008.   The WISE mediator ordered me to continue operating in partnership with my ex partner.  Believe it or not I reluctantly accepted this ruling but, within six months, things predictably fell apart.   WISE were unable to get anything resolved.  The Church now stepped up their participation considerably.  The WISE mediator arranged a meeting between himself, myself and the CO OSA CAN in her office and CO OSA interrogated me in a very unfriendly fashion about this whole situation.  She also asked me to lend money to my ex partner for a full WISE Dispute Resolution assuring me that he would pay me back.  The whole cycle had  become insane and it was now perfectly clear to me that justice would not be forthcoming from the WISE mediation, so I informed CO OSA that I would be suing my ex partner.

I then filed suit.  Two days after he was served (March 2009) we again agreed to attempt WISE mediation.  The mediation resulted in us splitting the files on a 50/50 basis (what I originally proposed in 2006) and each of us operated our business separately.  The WISE INT Enforcement Officer agreed that if I withdrew the suit there would be no further action or repercussions against me by WISE or the Church.

That turned out to be false – within two weeks Samantha, Freewinds MAA, ordered me to report immediately to the Freewinds for security checking under threat of a non enturbulation order and a declare.  I had little choice but to do so.  Once the security check took place I was flabbergasted to discover that a good part of it concerned disagreements with management rather than the business dispute.  I was told by the MAA and the D of P how they salvaged my life and how grateful I should be to give donations to the IAS and the Book campaigns for all they had done for me.  This cycle cost me about $90,000.  My ex partner was never forced to undergo such punitive measures to my knowledge.

Problems arose with the mediated settlement in the spring of 2011 and the WISE mediator failed to take steps necessary to remedy it.  I resigned from the Church on June 1, 2011 and again sued my ex partner on June 3, 2011.  The legal matter was finally settled in January 2012.

Lessons learned from this were that the Church, in my opinion and based on experience, lies about not getting involved in business matters of its parishioners, and that neither WISE nor the Church properly follow their own Justice policies.

CONCLUSIONS 

I have experienced many great wins and life changing cognitions in Scientology.  But I have also realized that I have been the recipient of numerous and continuing subtle but destructive forms of indoctrination which combined into a highly effective form of mind control.  The net effect of this is a being with reduced self determinism with less control over his/her own life, and who blindly follows any and all direction coming from the Church.

It is well known that the only way to truly control people is to lie to them.  I have observed that the Church of Scientology is engaging in the use of lies on a wholesale basis for the purposes of controlling their parishioners.  I can’t believe now that I bought the Church line that it is unethical to read anything except LRH or to engage in activities other than those directly supporting Scientology (as stated by the Freewinds C/S).  I was truly shocked to recognize the diabolical mixture of good and evil that today’s Church of Scientology consists of.

I now understand why a self determined being such as myself would be so receptive to mind control practices as to blindly follow non survival and unjustifiable Church orders and mistreatment.  It is incredible to me now how long it took me to really wake up from my super-indoctrinated and somnambulistic state.

I can no longer be part of the Church of Scientology.  I now consider myself to be an Independent Scientologist.  My life has never been happier nor more stress free than since I left the Church.

If you wish to communicate with me directly my secure email address is: halinacirillo@hushmail.com

I want to thank Marty for his courage and for all he does to provide such a helpful and enlightening forum. I also wish to say how much I appreciate the contributions of Mike and all the other incredible beings active on this blog.

Halina Cirillo

His Town by Jason Sheeler

 

The latest, and probably the last, chapter in the “Squirrel Buster” drama has been published in the February edition of Texas Monthly: the national magazine of Texas:  His Town, by Jason Sheeler.

The link will take you to an excerpt of the beginning of the article.  If you register below that (it is free), you can get access to the rest of the lengthy article.

For those who might have missed it, Corpus Christi Caller Times readers voted  the SQB saga as the story of the year, and it too did a wrap up article a couple of weeks ago, Squirrel Busters Leave Ingleside on the Bay.

God bless the Orrs, the Isbells and the rest of the good people of Ingleside on the Bay Texas.

‘Nuff said.

Drop Kick Me Through The Goalposts of Life

Heads up people!  David Miscavige has taken a giant stride toward replacing L Ron Hubbard lock, stock and barrel in Corporate Scientology.  Please see the  emailed message to the Flag OT (Operating Thetan – highest spiritual state attained in Scientology) Committee members.  It comes from a prominent member of a once wealthy family (until they ran into Corporate Scientology Jaws), Kathy Feschbach.  She has the chutzpah to promote a new IAS book containing nothing but closing addresses by Miscavige as “inspirational.”

The level of intelligence demonstrated by opinion leader members of Miscavige’s cult has slumped to around the mid double digits zone on the quotient scale.  If anyone finds what she quotes inspirational, I’ve got a less expensive alternate route recommendation for you.  That is, tune in to daytime TV game shows.  It won’t cost you a cent, and actually, the drivel coming from the automotanic hosts is far, far more intelligent and entertaining than Miscavige’s Shermanspeak.

Really, Corporate Scientologists, the world sees you as sick cult members for a reason, and it is something you exert a cause on effecting.  It is your slavish, ludicrous pimping for such an obviously sociopathic, automaton in a tuxedo.

The evidence:

Dear Flag OTC Members,Yesterday the IAS printed out in booklet form – The Closing Addresses from Chairman of the Board RTC from 2007 to 2011.When you have a chance, please come in to the AO and pick up your copy – they are very inspiring.

Here is the end of one from Maiden Voyage IAS Event 2008 – COB

If you ever dreamed of playing on a global court for the highest stakes imaginable, then your dreams have now come true, because this is that game, and you’re now on the field.  Accordingly, you must be competent and you must be committed, both as individual Scientologist and as members of the IAS collectively, because that’s the only way we’ll eventually kick one through the goal posts and straight into eternity.

Beyond all that, there may be speculation, and playing of other games, but right now we are indeed using the basic truths of Scientology to give Earth a culture of which Earth can be proud.  

Ml, Kathy Feshbach

I think he might have been inspired by this little ditty:

Village Voice Interviews Valeska Paris Guider

Learn more about the Corporate Scientology “OT VIII” ship:

The Village Voice Interview: Valeska Paris Guider.

Orange County – Now, For The Rest Of The Story

The following article by Luis Garcia is a follow- up to the several part series in St Petersburg Times, Inside Scientology: The Money Machine.   We are going to be doing a bit of Paul Harvey here.  A number of articles will follow that expand upon themes covered by the Times, but with the rest of the story filled in.  In this case, here is the rest of the story on the Orange County Idle Org fraud that was touched on by the Times.

The Orange County Ideal Org Project; a tale of lies and deception.

by Luis Garcia

First, I would like to acknowledge Joe Childs, Tom Tobin and the St. Petersburg Times for their impressive and unbiased marvel of investigative journalism in the recent series The Money Machine. My hat is off to you, gentlemen.

The rabbit hole is deep and has many twists and turns. I will attempt to shed some clarity and give some additional data on the Orange County Ideal Org evolution. Rocio and I donated the first $100,000 in 2003 that kicked off the OC (Orange County) Ideal Org project. This was announced at a subsequent event with a large attendance, and an additional $340,000 were raised. The project was underway. Other events of all sorts ensued, slowly raising the amount of funds in the pot.

In February of 2006, it was announced that “OC was next.” A mission composed of 3 people arrived. Quentin Tauffer, SO fundraiser extraordinaire came to OC accompanied by 2 women, one doing Admin functions and the other doing Ethics. The first order of business was to issue Ethics interviews summons. Rocio and I were summoned, as well as many OLs and OTs in the field. The ethics interview turned out to be an en-masse rollback. Soon after, a couple of guys were “handled,” and you never heard another peep from them. Now, with all CI removed from the field, the “briefings” could start. And indeed they did! Daily briefings at the Org, where everyone was asked to give and where everyone was asked to get on the phone, go visit people at their homes, businesses, etc., and get them to give as well.

This continued for about a month and most staff in OC and about 30 public were literally working the fundraising drums all day. But it was slow going. The donations were just trickling in. Ed Dearborn confided in me, “the flows are stuck and we need a substantial donation to un-stick them.” You know this part of the story so I won’t repeat it. After we made our donation in March 2006, “because we enthusiastically support our chosen faith,” as spokeswoman Karin Pouw said, it was leveraged to get 2 other individuals to donate large sums for a total of $500,000 each or more. These individuals have since gotten divorced and their finances are in a real mess. Other people also upped their statuses and made large donations. Within 2 weeks all the funds needed to buy the building in Santa Ana, CA had been raised. The flows had been un-stuck.

There was a Victory celebration type event held, where contributors received commendations and leather jackets. The ED, Ed Dearborn, announced to an audience of over 400 that fundraising had officially ended. The renovations would be funded with the proceeds of the sale of the existing building in Tustin, CA, as at that time, there were interested buyers for it offering around $5 million.

Parishioners celebrate the end of fundraising in OC

Commendations given by Quentin Tauffer

The $250,000 leather jacket

 

Renovations were to start immediately! There were just a couple of little hurdles to overcome first, though.

CSI (Church of Scientology International) had retained a company by the name of Staubach on a global basis, to locate, negotiate and conduct the purchase of buildings. The building for OC had been located and negotiated by a parishioner. There had been no brokers involved, which was a plus often aired at briefings, I mean think of “all the commission money we are saving!”

Although Staubach was not involved at all in the locating or purchasing of the OC’s Ideal Org building, they sent us a bill for their commission nevertheless: $160,000. We couldn’t of course go to the seller after the transaction was finalized and tell him to pay a commission to a broker that was not even present during the transaction. So we had to pay it. And we couldn’t go to the public and tell them about this lunacy either.

So just a few short weeks after it had been declared that “all fundraising had ended,” the ED announced we needed to raise $160,000 to “pay the architect and get him started.” This money was raised in a few weeks.

Staubach’s commission was paid. Karin Pouw’s statement “all donated money is spent carefully and efficiently” is perhaps an inaccurate statement. Who ever heard of a real estate buyer paying a commission to a broker for not working the deal? Indeed, only in the COS’ world of efficient economies.

The second hurdle was that right after the purchase, the last tenant’s lease had just been renewed “by mistake” for another 5 years by the DSA Orange County, Marie Murillo. After this little oversight was recognized, Marie Murillo and the then FBO Ian Faulkner, went to meet with the tenant to see what it would take to get him to move. The tenant was no dummy and he had informed himself very well as to the nature of his new landlord; and having found that the church of Scientology was engaged in an “unprecedented period of expansion” buying prime real estate all over the world like there was no tomorrow, he said it would take a cash payment of $450,000 plus 3 months of free rent and 3 months of free utilities. Now, this is when Mr. FBO, Ian Faulkner, put his foot in his mouth, and said something along the lines of “we could do that.” You see, for Mr. Faulkner to comply with his orders and “handle the tenant and get him to move” only meant extracting a few hundred thousand dollars from back-broken parishioners. No big deal. It’s very easy to spend somebody else’s money.

When he hit a wall in trying to raise this much money, again, after only a short while of having announced “no more fundraising,” I got a call with a request to help them negotiate with the tenant.

As you can imagine I was dealt a bad hand. The tenant, based on Mr. Faulkner’s confident response in their first meeting, was now licking his chops and very much looking forward to his big pay-day.

I met with the tenant multiple times and used all my business skills to get him to abandon the idea of $450,000. This process took me 5 months, all the while incessant queries and orders from the office of the Landlord Int kept coming down, such as “what’s the hold-up? We need to start the renos! Pay him! Get him out!” This was a top priority cycle. The tenant was holding up the Ideal Org in OC. Unthinkable!

I got the tenant to agree to a cash payment of $175,000 and a short period of free rent. He moved out in May 2007. I don’t quite remember how this money was raised, I mean what shore story was used, but the public were definitely not told that we paid $175,000 of their money to fix a little mistake on the DSA’s part. I received the following email from Mark Pisani, from the Int Landlord’s Office:

From: Mark Pisani [markpisani@scientology.net]

Sent: Friday, March 30, 2007 10:42 AM

To: Garcia. Luis

Cc: Dearborn, Ed; Murillo, Marie

Subject: Tenant termination agreement

Luis –

I have attached an agreement form that was drafted by the church’s real estate attorneys at JMBM Law firm. It was written for another org but I changed the dates here. Correct the dates as needed to suit your needs. 

Obviously, stay in close comm with ED and Marie (as you are doing this for them).

ml, Mark

I was given commendations and I also received the following email from OC DSA, Marie Murillo. She knew I would be going to Flag soon for a refresher, and she thought this might help me with my perceived transgressions:

From: marie [mariemurillo@yahoo.com]

Sent: Friday, May 11, 2007 11:56 AM

To: Luis Garcia

Subject: report

 Solo Nots DoP (for Luis Garcia)                                                          May-11-07

 DSA OC

 Re: Luis’ participation on handling the remaining tenant of our new Ideal Org.

 Dear Sir: 

 This is to clarify a bit more Luis’ help on the above cycle as the commendations that both the ED and I wrote on him only mentions the final product and not necessarily all the work involved.

 Our building had a remaining tenant that had just renewed another 5 years lease right after we bought the building. They occupy the space which is at the corner of the building. This is going to be Div 6 as it is the only area in the building that has windows to the outside and therefore the most exposure. At the beginning of this cycle they demanded $450,000 plus 3 months free rent and free utilities. We simply could not afford that and the cycle ended right there.

Needless to say there was no way that those tenants would not be handled regardless how much this would cost us, as it jeopardized the renos and the opening of our new org.

I worked with Luis on this since October 2006 or so. He helped me review the lease and found different areas where we could be asking the tenants for insurance that they did not provide and other items that were important to us and could also help them change their mind about leaving.  I was in constant communication with Luis at that time. This cycle of reviewing the lease was a many hours cycle as it involved legal aspects that Luis had to research.

Luis got them to agree to leave for $175,000 which is considerably less than the original $450,000 amount.

I want to add that at some point I had to leave for Flag as I went there to finish OT-7, since that moment Luis took over the cycle fully which allowed me to not have any attention units on this while I was getting thru the end of OT-7. He was in comm with me but took full responsibility for the cycle.

This cycle was priceless for my org as with the tenants there for another 4 years we would not be able to open the Ideal Org.

I knew that Luis had taken the last few months to dedicate himself to get thru the level, he took off work and any other activities that did not consist of getting in session and was working on getting done with OT-7, regardless of this he answered to my request for help on a cycle that was of great importance to the org and made the time to do this. I truly appreciated this.

This is true,

Marie Murillo

DSA OC

We were now ready to start the renovations. Were we? Nope. The real estate market had just started to falter and the $5 million buyers were no longer there. We could only get $4.5 million or so.

So at a new enthusiastic briefing, an audience of not-so-enthusiastic parishioners were told that… $500,000 more needed to be raised.

Fundraising events, raffles, barbecues, bake sales, and even poker games in the name of the Ideal Org have run ever since. And let’s not forget “events” such as “Bowling for OC’s Ideal Org” or “The Pirates of the Caribbean Fundraising party,” or “the OC’s Ideal Org golf ball drop.” Yeap, numbered golf balls were sold and dropped from a helicopter on top of a golf course hole. The ball that went into the hole first would win its proud owner a TV set! As you can see all very on-policy Scientology actions.

OC’s Orange County Executive Director, Ed Dearborn, setting the bowling example, leading his flock to a Cleared OC.

Freewinds’ Registrar Gavin Potter, double hatted as Ideal Org’s pirate, telling “enthusiastic” parishioners to “donate or else!” “Rrrrrahh!”

New FBO Kirsten Krieger (center) watches intensely as a player says “all in.” A symbolic moment indeed, as many have said the same words in the COS: “ALL IN.”

Orange County’s ED, Ed Dearborn, addresses the parishioners at “The Most Uptone Fundrasing Event Ever!” Yes, this was the actual name for it. Note how parishioners “enthusiastically” fill the first two rows of chairs.

Orange County’s ED, Ed Dearborn, explains to a group of “VIPs” that the Pro-survival thing to do is to fork over their retirement funds.

Four recent fundraising events held by OC. Same faces in all photos, half or so of the people are staff. Orange County reached ST Hill size, for real, in 1986. I know, I was there. Where is all the OC public?

OC’s Roll of Shame. This is the list of everyone that has donated to the OC’s Ideal Project. Note the name “Luis & Rocio Garcia” are missing at the top.

As time passed, two things occurred: 1) the price they could get for the existing building in Tustin has been steadily declining. All they can get now is $3 million, IF they can find a buyer. And 2) the price for the renovations has been steadily increasing. When I asked the ED, Ed Dearborn, about this he said “all that stuff from Gold was very expensive.” The target to be raised became a moving target. First it was $500,000, then $800,000. Then $1.2 million, then $1.6 million, then…

In January of this year, I received the following letter from the Orange County OT Committee:

 

“It IS happening!”

 
This is a brief accounting summary of the project as I understand it:

1. Building purchase price: $6.2 million. April 2006.

2. Commission paid to Staubach: $160,000.

3. $175,000 paid to tenants to get them to move.

Add to this the lost of rental income for the last 4 years: $8,000 per month, 48 months = $384,000. Moreover, the lease would have been up by now, so the $175,000 tenant pay-off could have been saved. But hey! The renos had to start yesterday! “Pay him! Get him out!”

4. Now, the letter above says $1.3 million was raised in the last 6 months (more like in the last 5 years, since 2006).

5. “Management made an award of $1.2 million.”

6. So that leaves a mere $2.7 million more to be raised by LRH’s birthday (March 2011). And that is if the damned target stays put for a while! I’m telling you, this target has had legs for the last 5 years!
7. But let’s not forget the $3 million they will hopefully get from the sale of the existing building. Back in 2006 they had multiple offers for around $5 million and they turned them down.

Do the math, and this 100 year old, asbestos-ridden, 42,000 sq. foot building is going to cost a total of $14.7 million ($350/sq. ft.).

 

Also note that New OT VIIIs Marty Prince (Cramming officer), Yvonne Prince (Senior C/S) and Marie Murillo, (DSA) have recently “come on board and are now in charge of the fundraising.” What about their posts?
But wait! There is more. The building does not have it’s own parking lot. The lot across the street is used by government employees during the day and it’s pretty full. That leaves the 2-
hour coin meters on the streets… if you can find one available. Genius!

The building has sat empty since that last tenant left in May 2007. Events are not even held there anymore. The neighborhood it is in, is not precisely Beverly Hills. All businesses have bars and security doors in the storefronts. Some poor staff members have had to spend every single night there since 2007, to keep it secure.

 

Now, who shares my opinion that LRH would probably not approve of any one point above, let alone all of them combined?
I hope this finds you well, and I hope this helps shine some light on OC.

Best,

Luis