Going Clear, Part 13 Lawrence Wright’s actual malice re IRS

Posted on June 15, 2017 by | Comments Off on Going Clear, Part 13 Lawrence Wright’s actual malice re IRS

Going Clear, Part 13 summary:

Rathbun details the two years of ‘living hell’ the IRS put the Church of Scientology through before deciding there was no remaining grounds by which they could deny it tax exemption.  The IRS thoroughly examined every entity even marginally related to the church, including examining ten years of Founder L. Ron Hubbard’s taxes long after his death, including settlement of his estate.  It was only after the IRS exhausted every lead through all of the books and activities of every entity that they concluded, “Ok, they’re all exempt.”  It wasn’t that the church asked for or demanded every entity receive exemption; it was that the IRS insisted upon examining them.  Wright was informed of all this. Not only did he not report it, he wondered aloud in his book how it was that the IRS ‘caved’ to the church’s alleged demand for across the board exemptions.  Per Rathbun, Wright “never let the facts get in the way of his narrative.”  Wright asserts it was odd the IRS granted exemption when the “courts had repeatedly ruled in its favor” against Scientology. In fact, Rathbun shared dozens of more then-recent decisions the church had been racking up against the IRS, decisions that put the IRS in an legally untenable position should it not afford Scientology a full consideration for exemption for the many years which had yet to be adjudicated.  Rathbun details some of those decisions. None of it was mentioned in Wright’s book to maintain the fiction there was something untoward about the IRS’s 1993 tax exemption recognition of Scientology churches.  Clearly, Wright was setting up an “authoritative” book to use for the purpose of attempting to have Scientology’s tax exemption removed. That later proved to be the case when Wright, his film Director Alex Gibney, and paid witness Mike Rinder strenuously campaigned to have exactly that done – on the basis of the book Going Clear and its movie adaptation.  “I went through all of this with Wright, all of it, for many hours, including many follow up phone calls.”  None of it made it in the book.

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Going Clear, Part 12 – IRS and religion invention

Posted on June 15, 2017 by | Comments Off on Going Clear, Part 12 – IRS and religion invention

Going Clear, Part 12 summary

Wright invents the ‘fact’ that the IRS in 1992 settlement negotiations was making a determination of whether or not Scientology was a religion, a task he adjudicates the IRS was ‘ill-equipped’ to do.  Rathbun, recounts how he had explicitly, long prior to publication, demonstrated to Wright that his was not only not the case, but could not be the case.  Scientology had won that determination in court in 1967, after years of the IRS attempting to challenge it.  Since then, Rathbun told Wright, dozens of courts had reconfirmed that finding. It was such settled law that even the IRS wanted to make such an adjudication in 1992 they were powerless to do so.  Yet, Wright alleges the “unqualified” IRS set out to do so in 1982.

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Going Clear, Part 11- IRS, fraudulent deceptions

Posted on June 14, 2017 by | Comments Off on Going Clear, Part 11- IRS, fraudulent deceptions

Going Clear, Part 11 summary

Wrights weaves an invention-laden narrative that is false in sum and substance about Scientology’s history vis a vis the Internal Revenue service.  Wright literally invents the origin of the problem with the IRS – an event that Rathbun demonstrates never occurred and could not have occurred. Wright lies about the Church’s alleged IRS liabilities.  Based on these two inventions Wright dramatically concludes “The Founder had placed Scientology’s head on the executioner’s block.”  Rathbun notes, “he literally invented two statements and then from them invented a conclusion.”  Wright was informed that his misinformation that the church investigated the private lives of IRS agents was false, yet he published it anyway – with no source. His only source said it didn’t happen and he published it anyway.  Rathbun details a dozen facts that Wright was informed were incorrect, yet Wright published anyway.

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Going Clear, Part 10 – Cult Awareness Network

Posted on June 14, 2017 by | Comments Off on Going Clear, Part 10 – Cult Awareness Network

Going Clear, Part 10 summary

Cult Awareness Network.  Wright laments Cult Awareness Network being sued by individual Scientologists.  But, he intentionally omits the substance of those suits. “The substance of it was that the Cult Awareness Network was being used literally as an arm of the Internal Revenue Service to investigate Scientology and Scientologists.”  Cult Awareness Network (CAN) was serving as a propaganda arm for the IRS. And they were doing all this while enjoying tax exemption. But, by law they were required to present both sides of issues, in order to qualify as an exempt educational organization.  The lawsuits were brought after Cult Awareness Network denied Scientologists membership in order to provide the other side of the Scientology story. “Not only would it refused to be balanced, they wouldn’t even let somebody participate who would provide the balance.”  The lawsuits were meritorious under civil rights principles which CAN refused to abide. So, Wright forwards his propaganda by falsely promoting an anti-Scientology propaganda organization.

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Going Clear, Part 9 – 9 Lies in one Paragraph

Posted on June 13, 2017 by | Comments Off on Going Clear, Part 9 – 9 Lies in one Paragraph

Going Clear, Part 9: Wollersheim case, Nine scandalous lies in one paragraph.

Rathbun dissects 7 sentences in one paragraph that he demonstrates contains 9 lies.  These concern events that Rathbun would have been a first-hand witness to had they occurred. He exposes a number of other inventions of Wright himself where he cites no witnesses or ones who have been thoroughly discredited.  Had Wright checked any one of these charges with Rathbun – all concerned times and places Rathbun had direct knowledge of – Wright would have had his facts corrected. Not that it he would have. He knew Rathbun was the most credible witness and was present at the times and places recounted, yet never gave him the opportunity to corroborate or deny any of them.  Wright even accuses the church of doing things that are physically impossible in this universe. 

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Going Clear, Part 8 Questionable Sources

Posted on June 13, 2017 by | Comments Off on Going Clear, Part 8 Questionable Sources

Going Clear, Part 8:  Questionable Sources

Wright indicts and convicts L. Ron Hubbard and David Miscavige at the ages of 12 years old. Literally, Wright goes back that far to invent episodes in their lives to attack their characters.  In the case of Miscavige, Wright spent 4 pages utilizing a source lacking credibility to accuse Miscavige of something that allegedly occurred 40 years earlier, making Miscavige 12 years old. Rathbun provides first-hand information that demonstrates the witness to lack credibility.  Write takes innuendo, muses about, turning it into fact during the process.

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Going Clear, Part 7

Posted on June 12, 2017 by | Comments Off on Going Clear, Part 7

Going Clear, Part 7 summary: Wright unwilling/unable to judge credibility

Lawrence Wright attempted to use media pressure in 2009 to have the FBI investigate Scientology for “human trafficking.”  Rathbun details how he informed both the FBI (as its most prominent witness) and Wright at the time that what they were calling “human trafficking” was anything but human trafficking and that the FBI would ultimately strike out.  In fact, the investigation went nowhere and no charges were ever brought. Yet Wright in his book argues for sixteen pages how Scientology practices can be characterized as “human trafficking.”  A case of actual malice as defined by the Supreme Court would be hard to imagine. That definition is “publishing slander when one knew or should have known it to be false.”  Wright admitted to Rathbun that he (Wright) was more than a reporter when it came to Scientology, and that at the time of the FBI investigation he was going to use a story on Scientology to nudge or kick the FBI into action by shaming them.  Wright then uses paid “fact” witnesses, whom Rathbun demonstrated to Wright ahead of publication were paid witnesses, to “corroborate” his libel.  Wright literally told Rathbun “I don’t know what you mean by ‘evaluate the credibility of sources’”. 

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Going Clear, Part 6

Posted on June 12, 2017 by | Comments Off on Going Clear, Part 6

Going Clear, Part 6 summary: Australian Inquiry

Rathbun demonstrates how Wright ignored hard evidence in order to legitimatize what other journalists (none favorable to Scientology) described as a “witch hunt” and “kangaroo court” Inquiry into Scientology by the Australia parliament in the early sixties.  Wright reduces the fact of the Inquiry being instigated by slanderous material from US governments agencies by referring to it as an alleged delusory “belief” on the part of L. Ron Hubbard. Rathbun recounts how he went through a detailed account with Wright proving that the spreading of slanderous by the US government to the Australians was documented fact. 

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Going Clear, Part 5 Dishonest Editing

Posted on June 11, 2017 by | Comments Off on Going Clear, Part 5 Dishonest Editing

Going Clear, Part 5 summary:

After establishing that 80% of L. Ron Hubbard’s time is accounted for when one reviews the magnitude and content of his thousands of lectures (Going Clear Part 2), Rathbun then examines Wright’s only significant quotation from those lectures. Rathbun demonstrates with the actual transcripts quoted that Wright liberally misquoted, mixed up the sequence of sentences so as to change meaning to smear Hubbard. Rathbun shows how Wright’s quoted passage omitted fully more than half of the text to make the lecture seem disjointed and non-sequitur. Rathbun produces the transcript and demonstrates with highlight pen the violence Wright commits against Hubbard’s words in order to put him in a bad light.  Wright even invents the ”point” that Hubbard was allegedly trying to make.  Rathbun demonstrates that invented point was very evidently NOT the point, the invented non-sequitur that Wright alleges. 

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Going Clear, Part 4

Posted on June 11, 2017 by | Comments Off on Going Clear, Part 4

Going Clear, Part 4 summary:

Rathbun reveals that Wright intentionally and unjustly ignored the testimony of Fletcher Prouty.  Prouty was more credible than virtually all of Wright’s anti-Scientology sources combined. After all, he was the famous “Mr. X” in Oliver Stone’s movie JFK, Stone acknowledging the historic, heroic and credible whistleblower credentials of Prouty.  Wright specifically discounted Prouty’s critical testimony concerning L. Ron Hubbard’s indisputable naval intelligence career and the fact that clearly the US Navy intentionally altered Mr. Hubbard’s naval records to cover for his intelligence activities.  Rathbun produces receipts to demonstrate Wright’s research of Hubbard’s military records was purely amateur.  He discloses that the entire premise Wright presented as fact that someone ‘misrepresentations’ about Hubbard naval history was a major recruitment tool of Scientology was invented by Wright; not even a single one of his anti-Scientology sources corroborates it. 

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