Tag Archives: mike rinder

Claire Yurdin Goes Independent

Dear All:

I have resigned from the Church of Scientology under its current leadership by writing a letter of resignation to the Ethics Officers and MAAs of all the orgs where I have been on lines since becoming a Scientologist in 1969. I am now an Independent Scientologist.

The letter is below:

—————————-

Dear Ethics Officer/MAA:

I have completed Doubt on remaining a member of the Church of Scientology under its current leadership and have decided to resign as a member of the current Church. Per step 6 of the Doubt formula, I am announcing this to you, the Ethics Officers and MAAs of the orgs where I have been on lines since becoming a Scientologist in 1969. I am now an Independent Scientologist.

Here is my Scientology resume:

  • OT 4, mid OT 5
  • HDC Class 4 (both pre-Golden Age of Tech, both interned)
  • Superliterate
  • Minister’s Course, PTS S/P Course; Route to Infinity (Freewinds)
  • Range of smaller courses
  • Staff admin hatting courses
  • Founding staff member of Paris Org (staff there for three years) where I rose to Org officer.
  • Staff for one year on NY Day
  • Audited for six months at the oldFifth AvenueMission, NYC
  • Staff for five years at the Delphian School,Sheridan,OR, where I was a curriculum developer and taught high school French

I felt for a long time that something was wrong, but could not figure out what it could be. I observed a growing number of outpoints. I wrote a report on anything I personally observed that was off-policy or out-ethics. However, I did not look at the anti-Scientology websites, dismissing them as the work of crazies.

The light first dawned for me with the March 6, 2010 New York Times article about Christie Collbran’s tortuous departure from the Sea org. It is hard to ignore the New York Times. But what truly riveted my attention were links in the online article to the June 21, 2009 articles in the St. Petersburg Times (not a paper I usually read), by Childs and Tobin, interviewing Marty Rathbun and Mike Rinder about their departure from the Church. Rathbun and Rinder were #2 and #3 international executives for years and could not be dismissed. Their revelation that the current head of the Church, David Miscavige, regularly assaulted his staff shocked me terribly, among other things. A few weeks later, Anderson Cooper of CNN (another source hard to ignore) devoted a week to interviewing high-level departed executives on the topic of Miscavige’s propensity for assault. Marty appeared with Anderson Cooper. It was impossible to ignore what these longstanding former executives of the Church said and impossible to ignore Rathbun and Rinder, both highly credible sources.

Going online and becoming a regular reader of Marty’s blog and other websites, I found more and more corroboration from unrelated sources as the development of blogs and websites has enabled people to speak up online at no cost. The increasing number of outpoints I had observed started to make sense. Gaining power by a coup, David Miscavige, who has increasingly revealed himself to be a true Suppressive Person, has eliminated the checks and balances that once existed in the Church and cowed or exiled any opposition he may have had, it would appear.

Outpoints I have noted include:

  • There has been an unrelenting campaign to build huge expensive buildings, unwarranted by the size of their field and delivery statistics. {Note: This is especially true in my home area ofSeattle.] These are financed by demanding donations from Church members. This is out-policy. See HCOPL 23 Sept. 1970 Quarters, Policy Regarding on org premises. See HCO PL 24 February 1964, Issue II Org Programming on demanding donations for buildings. These huge expensive buildings are also out-gradient
  • The org staffs remain paid a pittance while the head of the Church has a lavish lifestyle and these expensive buildings are built. This is an outpoint.
  • Flag has been sending promotions for delivering grades, thereby undercutting the lower orgs, which are supposed to specialize in them. Flag is supposed to concentrate on higher level services. This is out-policy. See HCOPL 23 Nov 1969 Allowed Technical Services
  • Flag has been boasting in its promotions of speed of delivery. This is out-policy. See HCOPL 17 June 1970 RB Rev 25 Oct. 1983 Technical Degrades
  • I receive floods of email from orgs where I have never been and never will be. I called the central database I/C to ask that I only be sent email from the orgs where I am currently on lines and was told that this would be done. It was not. This is enforced communication (out Code of Honor). (I have marked them as spam in my email program.)
  • The Golden Age of Tech was launched, implying that LRH, who spent his life training people and is the source of the subject, had failed to give us the right way of training. This is out-policy. See HCOPL 7 Feb. 1965 Keeping Scientology Working, HCBO 8 March 1962 The Bad Auditor, HCBO 22 January 1977 In-Tech, The Only Way to Achieve It.
  • It appears that Miscavige has redefined F/N from what LRH gave us to say that the needle must swing at least three times. This is nowhere written by LRH and is out-tech. Overrun must be occurring on a massive scale. This is out-tech.
  • There has been a degrade of study tech in the Basics program, which tells the student look up a misunderstood word in the glossary rather than use a dictionary. This is out-tech.  See HCBO 23 March 1978RB Word Clearing Series 59 Clearing Words
  • The runway to auditor training has been lengthened by putting in long pre-requisite courses (Pro TRs,Upper Indocs, Pro Metering, and the Basics, which takes over a year all by itself.) The result is very few auditors trained. This is out gradient and hence out-tech. As co-auditing is the practical means by which auditing can occur on a great scale, the number of people being audited is extremely curtailed.
  • Sea Org members have been forbidden to have children since 1986. There has been no family time with existing children allowed since 1987. This is an enforced blocking of a dynamic when LRH stressed balance of the dynamics. See Fundamentals of Thought, Chapter 4 The Eight Dynamics.
  • There has been a suppressive application of disconnection, breaking up families. This is a misapplication of PTS/SP technology. This is out-tech. See “PTSness and Disconnection,” Introduction to Scientology Ethics (1998). Disconnection is now being used, in fact, as a political tool.
  • The prices for auditing and courses are so high that the average middle income person cannot afford them. This is an outpoint.
  • The e- meter, an essential auditing tool, is priced at over $4000 and probably costs about $200 to make. (I thought we were supposed to be clearing the planet.) This is an outpoint.
  • The supposed statistics of great expansion from Management are false. One has only to walk into one’s empty local org to see this. This is an out point.
  • My OT 5 has been very poorly handled.

The statements of OT VIIIs Geir Isene (http://elysianchakorta.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/geir_isene_doubt_cos_2009-08-07.pdf) and Luis Garcia (https://markrathbun.blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/a-letter-from-garcia.pdf) could not be dismissed either. Both Geir and Luis are highly intelligent and credible.

I am grateful for my many gains and wins in Scientology and continue daily use of the spiritual and mental technology developed by L. Ron Hubbard.

Should the leadership and direction of the Church change for the better, I would consider rejoining. Please remove me from your mail, email, and telephone lists at this time, however.

———————-

I won’t describe the levels of shock, horror, and personal loss I have felt or the difficulty in confronting all this and arriving at this moment as the participants in this blog are surely familiar with same.

It is beyond pitiful that Miscavige has not been handled internally long ago and that we are relying on journalists and bloggers for information and hoping the FBI will march in to put in ethics on our church from the outside.

I remain devoted to the spiritual, mental, and ethics, technology developed by L. Ron Hubbard.

Once Miscavige falls, as fall he must, the Church needs to be reorganized so such a person cannot again seize and maintain control. As we know, LRH was not a fan of democracy. (“The common denominator of a group is the reactive bank. Thetans without banks have different responses. They only have their banks on common. They agree then only on bank principles,” HCPOL 7 Feb. 1965 Keeping Scientology Working).  Note that LRH wrote that before he developed the Upper Bridge.

Perhaps there could be a convention of OT 7s and above to choose the CEO of the Church. At those case levels, the bank is no longer an issue.  This would be somewhat like the College of Cardinals in the Roman Catholic Church, which chooses the Pope. All OT 7s and above could be invited. Candidates for CEO position would make a presentation and the group would vote to choose one.  The CEO would report to the OT group regularly and could be removed by a 60% vote of same if need be.

It does not hurt to think ahead a bit.

With thanks to those courageous Independents who have preceded me,

Claire Yurdin (Adams, Luhrs)

The Corrupt Obama Administration

Here is the White House Petition response sent to my email address, the same response that was apparently sent to all who signed the peitition to EXAMINE THE GOVERNMENT’S FAILURE TO INVESTIGATE CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY CRIME, FRAUD AND ABUSE:

From: The White House <info@messages.whitehouse.gov>
To: rathbunmark@yahoo.com
Sent: Friday, November 18, 2011 6:19 PM
Subject: Petition Response: Why We Can’t Comment on this Petition about the Church of Scientology

Why We Can’t Comment on this Petition about the Church of Scientology

Thank you for signing the petition “EXAMINE THE GOVERNMENT’S FAILURE TO INVESTIGATE AND PROSECUTE CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY CRIME, FRAUD AND ABUSE.” We appreciate your participation in the We the People platform on WhiteHouse.gov.

 The We the People Terms of Participation explain that “the White House may decline to address certain procurement, law enforcement, adjudicatory, or similar matters properly within the jurisdiction of federal departments or agencies, federal courts, or state and local government.” The Department of Justice is charged with investigating federal crimes and enforcing federal criminal laws. Accordingly, the White House declines to comment on the specific law enforcement matter raised in this petition.

Here is my response to that email:

Stay tuned to markrathbun.wordpress.com.   You have made an election year error of magnitude.

I had already worked on an analysis and handling to post concerning an anticipated response such as this – it is about what I expected.  I am holding it till early this week when a) the next installment of the St Pete Times has been aired and thoroughly discussed, and b) I am of a cooler, more rational frame of mind.

As many of you know I did not originate this petition, and have never advocated depending on any agency to solve the corrupt corporate church of Scientology.   But, when I read the petition, I immediately signed on and encouraged others to do the same. Any injustice gone unremedied is another nail in the coffin of humanity.  Now that we are engaged, the game ain’t over till the fat lady sings.

A little secret only Miscavige, Mike Rinder and I know.  Remember all those  confessions that Mike and I signed that corporate Scientology made such a big deal of in their Freedom mags?  They were coerced as Mike and I have noted.  However, there is a strong grain of truth to some of them.  The ones where we take responsibility for alleged gigantic external legal and PR problems – what is true is that we did take responsibility for them.   Now, here is the rub. We DID take responsibility for every tough break the church got in the past thirty years enroute to establishing immunity and Miscavige never did, even though his fingerprints were all over every loss.   We hung in when the going got tough and ultimately saw that we prevailed on all fronts.  Of course, Miscavige – who took no responsibility for any of the hard knocks suffered along the way – took all credit for the ultimate victories.

In other words, Miscavige is a fraud.  A sniveling, punk coward.  Not a single one of the billionaire Wall Street con men whose greed destroyed the US economy over the past decade was indicted, let alone convicted.   For the very same reasons Miscavige – an habitual, repeat felon – walks free: MONEY.   That – according to everything that the core principles of Scientology stand for, let alone the United States of America – denotes weakness of the most insidious kind.

We – on the other hand – are from the school of the hard knocks.  We haven’t even broke a sweat in all the monkey business corporate Scientology has thrown our way over the past two years.  Plan accordingly.

 

 

 

More on the Vulture Culture

by Mike Rinder

In light of the ongoing St Pete Times series, here are some further thoughts on the subject.

Some Background:

David Miscavige has a long history of financial rape extending back to his days as “Chairman of the Board Author Services” in the 1980’s.  There he oversaw the Battlefield Earth and Mission Earth “special editions” and “signed artwork prints” exorbitantly priced rip-offs  sold as “investments.”  Anyone who owns these virtually worthless “properties” knows how much they are worth and how much bullshit hype accompanied their sale.

Miscavige also directed the pillaging of org book accounts, forcing orgs and missions to buy bookstocks that they did not need (many of them rotted in basements and eventually became worthless when the “new editions” came out) as the income to the Pubs Orgs resulting in increasing HIS stats at ASI (and consequently his bonuses).

And let’s not forget the International Finance Police, launched under his personal supervision, who went to orgs and missions and “fined” them for imagined transgressions and took the money from their accounts without any recourse.

But these were just warm up rounds to prepare him for the multi-million dollar scams to come – the IAS, “Basics” and “Ideal Orgs.”

“COB IAS”

In late 2006, David Miscavige ordered Janet McLaughlin (President IASA) and her executives, who were in Los Angeles at the time, rounded up and taken to the Hole.  Janet’s husband, Colm, was sent to the Freewinds under guard where he was put in lockdown.  Colm remains there to this day, separated from his wife for 5 years. He has reportedly tried to escape, but was gang tackled on the dock and dragged back to the ship (Security telling the Port Police that he was “drunk”).

The IAS had appeased Miscavige with extravagant gifts and vacations over the years (and he in turn had been the chief fundraiser for the IAS – he liked to announce to anyone in his vicinity that “he could raise more money with his pinkie, and without ever uttering the word “money” than all the IAS regges put together).

Huge amounts of money were spent by the IAS to cater to POB – and it was funded through a scheme whereby the staff of the IAS were paid “bonuses” that they turned over to form a slush fund for POB/Tom Cruise jaunts/parties/food/gifts.

Despite the well-known arrogance of the IAS executives, their shopping sprees in London, Paris and Los Angeles, their bonuses and perks….  President IASA had become disenchanted with the over the top extravagances of POB and especially with respect to his best friend and “Deputy COB,”  Tom Cruise.

Being in disagreement with POB was a one way ticket to oblivion, and Janet made her disagreements known. In fact, she was in LA as she had asked to meet “COB” face to face in order to air her disagreements.  He in turn had her tailed by PI’s, her car had a tracking device installed on it, her phones were monitored.

Her “disaffection” gave Miscavige a justification for taking her out. The operation was executed in typical Miscavige total overwhelm style. 30 people descended on the IAS Offices in LA  to round up the 5 women and separate and contain Colm.

Concurrently orders were sent to the Freewinds, executed by the RTC Rep Lurie Bellotti, CO CMO Ship Sue Price and Miscavige’s favorite hitman, Captain Freewinds, Mike Napier. All IAS staff were herded into the Starlight Cabaret, their phones, beepers and computers were confiscated and they were all made to “confess” to their crimes against Miscavige (i.e. any agreement with Janet that Miscavige and Cruise were overly extravagant).  The only ones that survived the purge were those who were loyal to Miscavige. As a separate note,  Mike Napier is widely hated by the staff on the Freewinds.  He is a Miscavige pet who has been protected even though he had out 2D with a shore terminal, and also with the Bookstore Officer Freewinds, while married. He was not beached, nor sent to the RPF, or removed from post.  In fact, his indiscretions were  kept quiet and dealt with by Sue Price and Lurie Belotti . Napier is a real piece of work, hypocritically vicious “I am unreasonable about 2D out ethics”, including requiring Freewinds staff to get his permission to marry, which he would often withhold simply out of cruelty.

With Janet and anyone in agreement with her out of the way, Miscavige began running the IAS personally.  He was in daily communication with IAS Regges (though he falsely claims in legal filings that he has nothing to do with the day to day operations of the church and nothing at all to do with the IAS).

Since late 2006, with nothing but POB sycophants in the IAS , it has become his personal  “SS” (the few remaining in RTC and the CMO are his personal “Gestapo”) and as a result the IAS has taken over Scientology like a cancer taking over and destroying a body.  Today, the IAS are beyond criticism as “everyone knows” if you mess with the IAS you are “messing with COB.”

The IAS specialize in doom and gloom briefings accompanied by intense pressure to suck blood out of the stones that pass for Scientology public these days. It is ironic that the guy who is running them stands on stage at his international extravaganzas proclaiming massive expansion and worldwide acceptance of Scientology at “unprecedented, unparalleled, unreal and unbelievable” levels.

These days, everyone is fair game for the IAS – more and more SO members show up on the rolls of patron gluteus maximus as they become older and eventually inherent from their parents, along with former SO Members trying to buy their way back into good graces.

And even the RPF are now prospects for the voracious regges. If someone in the RPF has money, all the rules of the RPF are set aside.  Regges take people out of the RPF to hit them up (often at 2 in the morning when they are trying to make a quota and there are no other people around, so they happily roust RPFers out of bed to gang reg them). Some have even been convinced to pay over their inheritance to “make up the damage” for supposed offenses that caused them to be assigned to the RPF.

Under COB IAS the pressure to increase income has increased dramatically. The FSO quota  for the annual IAS event was $10 million a couple of years ago, its probably more by now.

COB IAS has morphed the IAS, which is not contemplated in any policy, into a massive parasite immune to any efforts to curtail its insatiable appetite.

The Basic on The Basics

When Miscavige originally ordered that the manuscripts be gathered together for all LRH books and compared to the published editions, Jon Horwich and myself were assigned the job of going through the books.

We had a time machine order from Miscavige to get a book done EACH DAY. It also included putting together a glossary for each book.  This of course was insane, made doubly so by the fact that Jon and I were spending almost as much time answering questions from Miscavige’s personal staff and his other sycophants demanding to know what we had done and whether we would “meet the TM” as we were working on the books.

In the end, people were assigned to stand over us to keep us awake – we were sleeping a maximum of 2 hours a nite because it was easier not going to bed than being woken up constantly by idiots demanding we get out of bed because we were “behind TM, and if COB says it can be done in this amount of time you are proving you are CI to him and LRH if you don’t meet the TMs and go to bed instead.”

Eventually, Miscavige busted us off the project as “CI” he “personally took it over” because “nobody else could do it.”

He then spent 2 years completing this job (virtually 24/7 if you believe the statements the church makes to the media) he had ordered and beaten us to get done in 2 weeks!

But then, “because COB had put so much time and effort into it” it became the MOST IMPORTANT thing in Scientology.  Every part of it, from the editing of the text to the typesetting, cover design, what words are in the glossaries, setting up the printing presses was “personally done” by “COB.” Of course, this is how everything goes in his world – nobody can be trusted to do anything right, so he has to be the only one.

The real tragedy came when the books (and lectures) were released.

Now it was a personal affront to “COB” if the sales were not “highest ever” each week as this was “the MOST IMPORTANT THING in the history of Scientology.”  He set his usual unreal quotas – it goes like this.  “There are 8 million Scientologists in the world, every one of them needs at least one set, so we need to sell 8 million and if that doesn’t happen I will find who is CI and blow them away.”  And thus the insanity ratcheted up to a level never seen before.

Staff everywhere became “book consultants” with quotas that had to be met each day or they could not go to bed. This included ALL OF MANAGEMENT, including WISE, SMI, ABLE and OSA.  RTC became the booksales quota police, enforcing that nobody could go to bed without meeting their quota.

In this era the criminality on book lines reached new lows.  Huge numbers of people had books debited from their accounts without their knowledge. People were regged to buy sets for others – and they subsequently showed up on the doorstep of unsuspecting public who had separately bought their own copies. It even descended to “loaning debits” – people would be convinced to “borrow” others APs to get sets of books and then “repay” the persons’ account at a later date.  SMI and ABLE began taking reserves accounts from the few remaining missions and groups. Mission Starter packages that had been donated in previous stat push campaigns were “converted” into Basics packages.

Of course, the criminality was applauded when the “stats” were reported by the RTC Rep (the RTC Rep ILO, Tracye Danilovich is one of the most incompetent people ever to rise to a position of authority in the church – her ONLY talent is telling POB what he wants to hear and screaming at others that they are “CI”) and then subsequently when the criminality was exposed that same RTC Rep would be indignant that anyone would sink to such levels of out ethics.

The DM Birthday Game

See earlier posts on the subject of Ideal Orgs:

https://markrathbun.wordpress.com/2010/04/17/idle-orgs-the-great-ponzi-scheme/

https://markrathbun.wordpress.com/2010/06/22/scientology-idle-org-strategy-a-sad-tale/

This is the third prong of the master propagandist who sucks the lifeblood out of anyone in his vicinity.

The LRH Birthday Game, as covered in LRH ED 339R and 339R-1 is to make all orgs the size of Old St Hill – and in so doing, make being on staff viable and move all staff up the Bridge to OT.

But POB had a better idea as that was just too damned hard.

Convince Scientologists that what they should do instead is buy fancy (often out of the way) buildings, and call these “Ideal Orgs.”  This of course required NO management structure, no Universe Corps of auditors and C/Ses to move the staff to OT and the PUBLIC could be made responsible for getting it done through the “OT Ambassadors.”  But even more amazing – they would raise the money and buy the building and it would then be turned over to Int Reserves.

And the side benefit – keep showing the Kool Aid drinkers buildings and keep pounding in that this equates to “expansion.”

Today, all that is required to “demonstrate” expansion under POB’s watch is to buy more buildings (or sell more Basics).  No delivery needed.  No new people in. No raw public booksales.

The crown jewel of this strategy is been the “Super Power” building. They have convinced people to turn over enough money to build the “cathedral” 3 times over, telling them that the “last money is needed to complete the building this year” for at least 5 years.

This, all by itself, is a massive moneymaker. And without the need to deliver a single hour of auditing or course – in fact, it probably makes more money empty than full!  Though POB promotes that this is the tech that will “make planetary clearing a reality” (KTL which was the earlier touted solution isn’t mentioned any more and isn’t even sold or delivered, and there isn’t much talk about 10,000 on Solo NOTs handling the planet either ) he will not complete the building as to do so will result in 2 things:

  1. A drop in income
  2. Exposing that the place is a cavernous morgue as he cannot fill it up and it will be apparent to ANYONE.

The DM Birthday Game is about MEST and money.  Auditing and training is long forgotten in the world of the RCS.  If Miscavige is the Pope, Money is the King.
What Your Fees Buy:

This is what LRH said about money given to the Church. It is something that used to be broadly distributed in the Church but is now hard to come by (for obvious reasons). These are excerpts that make clear just what you were buying when you paid for auditing and training, when there was no separate IAS regging, no Ideal Org regging, no CCHR regging or “donations to libraries” regging. EVERYTHING was paid for through the sale and delivery of Scientology SERVICES.

 

WHAT YOUR FEES BUY

By L. Ron Hubbard

So the fees you pay for service do not go to me.

A Sea Org member draws only about four pounds a week and his room and board. We run our ships and stations at a cost that would make a cost accountant disbelieve it. So not much of your fee goes to them even though they bear a full burden of management of pure services.

Org staff members over the world work for so little that Execs occasionally get letters from their landladies demanding orgs increase their pay level so staff members can pay their rent.

So not much of your fees goes to them.

Occasionally some org or franchise goes on a big kick of high pay. We very soon pull the rug out from under that. So if your fee went that way for a brief period we corrected the outness fast as we frown on money-motivation like a thundercloud.

Some fringe fellows know that if you had a complete monopoly on the only workable mental technology on the planet you could make billions. That’s why they’re on the “fringe”. So we prevent your fee from going in that direction.

Then where does your fee go?

—–

Since 1950. So-called  “mental health” groups have fought to discredit and decrease the power of Dianetics and Scientology.

So a portion of your fee is spent on patching up the damage done, keeping going in spite of attacks and nullifying the actions against the West of a very choice lot of bad hats. If we didn’t have the documentary evidence I wouldn’t dare mention it.

It costs money to bring cases up to US Supreme Court level as we have. The legal defense expenses we have in a dozen countries is not small.

So a portion of your fees goes to keeping the subject available to you and to the world.

We work very hard to keep tech being done well.  It is nothing for us to put two people on a fast plane and send them half around the world to straighten up the Case Supervision and auditing in an area so you can have confidence in the service you get.

It is routine to send the highest class people we have to handle “ARC Breaks of Long Duration” in the field or on admin lines or to see they get handled.

Your fee supports a long and complex set of communication lines by which tech and admin can be cared for rapidly.

A portion of your fee just the other day began a survey of a backward country to introduce high speed educational processes to bring their people quickly from the stone age up to present time. The “Peace Corps” was also there on cushy government funds building houses for a big construction company at a nice profit. But we, unsupported, began the effective work actually needed there to help the people.

A tiny bit of your fee neated up an area ruined for Americans by the American Navy.

Small parts of your fee heal up a lot of things over the world.

But the biggest part of your fee stays right in your area. It is used to make training and processing and data available to the next fellow first by keeping the org there and second by letting him know about it and third by making as sure as possible that the training and processing he gets is standard and effective.

Your fee keeps the nearest org alive and functioning and the environment safe.

So little by little, using the fees you give us for your service, your training and your processing, we create little by little areas of sanity.

I doubt that anyone is surprised that this is no longer available in the Church or in the OEC Volumes?

The Vulture Culture is a creation of the COB IAS/COB Pubs/COB Ideal Orgs/COB BS.

 

 

 

Daniel Montalvo Cases Are Settled

references: Daniel Montalvo vs. Church of Scientology, et al, and Free Daniel Montalvo

Daniel Montalvo recently settled his lawsuits with Corporate Scientology entities.  The terms of the settlement were not particularly favorable to Daniel, but the settlement provides him: a)  protection from future liability for having taken computer hard drives with him when he left Corporate Scientology, and b) a little something to make his transition into outside life a bit easier.

When I originally posted about the lawsuits in early March 2011, I posted the following comment in response to a number of comments speculating how the suits would accomplish sweeping effects:

I have noted a number of comments speculating on strategies and potential outcomes. I think people should know that this case is Daniel Montalvo’s. His lawyer is a consumate, ethical professional. He is representing Daniel and ONLY Daniel. I am confident that he will do everything in his power to make his client whole ensuring he has the best chance possible for living a productive, fullfilling life. That is his obligation, no other. Whatever path this case takes the fact of it being brought, and hopefully the fact of it resulting in a wrong being justly remedied, will serve as benefit to the public at large and others similarly situated. Anything beyond that is of no concern to me. I would hope others will grant Daniel and his counsel that space and power of choice.

Daniel and his counsel did not consult with me about the settlement before entering into it as was their privilege.  They both felt that under the circumstances, and given the opponent they were facing, they did the right thing for Daniel at that juncture of the litigation.  What they ran into was precisely what Mike Rinder and I informed them they would prior to filing suit; something I don’t think either of them fully appreciated at that time. Nonetheless, having learned the circumstances after the fact, I believe Daniel was well served by his counsel Kit Winter.  Given the hand he was dealt Kit pulled off a minor miracle.

To those who donated to get Daniel out of jail and the charges against him dropped, your intention was fully accomplished.  Corporate Scientology officially dropped charges against Daniel.  To all of you, thank you very much, and very well done.

While Corporate Scientology expressly reserved the right to continue to come after me for something Daniel testified truthfully under oath that I had nothing to do with, you probably already know my response to that: “make my day.”

While Daniel handled his suit as I noted he should in the italicized passage above, he and Kit provided a great service to all of us. They kept the Corporate Scientology legal battalions pinned down for several months; obsessed with staving off Kit and Daniel’s advance made many other advances across the world possible.

Thanks to everybody who contributed, not just money but their time, their homes, their food, their vehicles, themselves.  You truly are appreciated.

Is Scientology a Religion?

Mike Rinder addressed the question of whether Scientology meets the accepted scholarly and legal standards of what constitutes a religion in a presentation to the Philosophical Society at Trinity College in Dublin Ireland this week.   While versions of this address have appeared in the comments section of this blog already, here is a version with better audio than those posted thus far.  I recommend that anyone interested in the subject of Scientology listen to the entire presentation.

For those whose intellectual curiosity has been piqued here is the Australian High Court decision of 1983 that Mike referred to, Australian High Court.

For those who want to study the evolution of the establishment of Scientology’s religiosity, Justice Skelly Wright’s, of the D.C. Federal Appellate Court, 1969 opinion in the Food and Drug Administration’s case against the e-meter is essential reading, Founding Church of Scientology vs United States (1969)

Since 1983 many other legal precedents were delivered that further established the religious bona fides of Scientology offering constitutional protection to the practice of Scientology in other contexts.

Each one of those precedents was hard won by a lot of determined Scientologists over the past six decades.  That David Miscavige has cynically used those protections to create a sort of immunity for his commercial, criminal operations cannot be allowed to wipe out that selfless work for humanity.  The only thing that stands between Corporate Scientology’s avarice and the ruination of those Constitutional protections is a community of sincere, ethical, independent practitioners continuing to grow and communicate.

Please continue to grow and communicate.

Scientology’s New International Spokesperson

Mike Rinder is in Dublin Ireland today.   He was invited to Trinity College to speak on behalf of Scientology in a debate sponsored by the Philosophical Society.   The question: should Scientology be considered a legitimate religion?   Corporate Scientology chose not to participate. Mike represents Scientology (clearly of the Independent variety, as opposed to the Corporate version) as I post this.

Mike was greeted at the Dublin airport yesterday by seven Corporate Scientologists screaming in his face “YOU ARE NOT WELCOME IN IRELAND!”  The rabble probably represented half the total die-hard Corporate Scientology field in Ireland.   Irony or ironies, Mike Rinder came to Ireland for one purpose and one purpose alone, to defend their rights to believe and practice their religion; a chore that David Miscavige explicitly ran for cover from.

Here is Mike on national television broadcast last night in Ireland.  Note, despite Corporate Scientology’s best efforts to shut Mike up and prevent his appearance at Trinity College, you just can’t stop the shinin’.  My take: With Davis MIA and Miscavige AWOL, the applied religious philosophy of Scientology finally has a spokesperson Scientologists can be proud of. (note: the video goes up to about 17 minutes, then repeats itself without sound – no need to watch beyond the conclusion of Mike’s interview)

South Park Blowback for Corporate Scientology

reference: Corporate Scientology Targets South Park

Tony Ortega has provided the second installment of Corporate Scientology’s Operation South Park at the Village Voice website: Scientology’s South Park Investigation: To Send In A Young Mole

According to an original Corporate Scientology Office of Special Affairs (OSA, terror and harassment arm of Corporate Scientology) memorandum OSA cased the offices of South Park’s Trey Parker and Matt Stone in April 2006.

Within a couple weeks the following text appeared in an OSA Intelligence Office Daily Report (a report Chairman of the Board of Corporate Scientology David Miscavige reads avidly, daily):

OSA Invest DR 3 May 06

SOUTH PARK: A PI met with a young filmmaker who recently graduated college (who was a student of Eric Sherman).  The filmmaker recently did an interview with Lloyd Kaufman, a friend of Trey Parker and Matt Stone.  He has agreed to assist to establish some comm lines in the South Park Studios and to try and get intelligence on their plans with regard to Scientology.  He is going to approach Kaufman to see if Kaufman can get him an introduction to Parker and Stone and either possibly get a job as an intern there or as a writer (he has seen every episode of South Park).

The Eric Sherman referred to is a long-time OSA operative in the Hollywood Community.  Here is his website:  http://ericsherman.com/

Ortega reports that he has been attempting to reach Sherman to no avail.   You can bet OSA has Sherman under very tight control; he will either never surface or will issue a blanket denial if media interest persists.  Sherman believes his immortal future depends upon playing nice with OSA and David Miscavige.

In the meantime, corporate Scientology’s chairman David Miscavige has called the dogs out on Mike Rinder who is a former Corporate Scientology insider who witnessed much of what Mr. Ortega and I have posted over the past two days. Rinder is in the United Kingdom for an important speaking engagement.  Here is a report from a gentleman named Alex Castillo who met with Rinder in London today:

Today I met Mike Rinder in London. He wanted to take his friend to Buckingham Palace to see the famous change of the Royal Guard, so we three agreed to meet at a nearby tube station. The meeting had been arranged via Mike’s email and Sam’s phone. And what do you know? by the time I arrived at our meeting place a “PI” was already stationed near where Mike and his friend were waiting for me!! This just shows that the invasion of privacy being carried out under Miscavige’s orders is alive and well.
After we met and had given each other a big hug (filmed or photographed by the “PI”), we made our way to the Palace, followed by the PI. As we stood in front of Buckingham Palace waiting for the show to start, this poor guy just stood there looking bored and taking pictures. Mike was friendly and polite with him, even said something to him. I was friendly too, I smiled and asked him to smile while I took a picture of him holding his camera. He actually posed for the picture and smiled!! Later on another PI showed up with a bigger camera with a big, long microphone and all, and made a point of aiming it at us at close range. When the change of the guards finished, we walked a few blocks towards Trafalgar Square with the intention of going into a cafe. They followed all the way. The three of us went into a busy cafe, they stayed at the front door and didn’t notice that the cafe had a side door into another street, so we just calmly walked out of the side door, walked a few paces down the street, went into another cafe and disappeared from their view! From the window of the second cafe where we went in I saw one them running to the corner and frantically looking around trying to find us, but they never did, so me and Mike and his friend were able to sit down, have a coffee and enjoy our converstation undisturbed by these poor guys who are getting paid to be “Private Eyes”. Me, having heard so much about what these people do, had never experienced such bizarre situation and I must say that I am still in two minds about wheather I should laugh (I must say it WAS funny) or feel shocked by the sheer stupidity of what Miscavige is spending millions of dollars of parishioners hard earned money on. In any case, I had a great time conversing with Mike after almost 30 years of not seeing him in the flesh.
So, this experience today tells me: 1) Miscavige is still ordering the hacking of phones and emails and 2) He’s spending Church of Scientology money just to harrass his “enemies”. I know this is no news to anyone here, but I thought I would add more confirmation of it. Maybe South Park would be interested in this episode??

Alex

Seems Miscavige’s propensity to create blowback knows no bounds.

 

 

 

Why the Federal Government Must Be Held to Account

Please see the documentation of illegal and unconscionable conduct of David Miscavige’s Radical Corporate Scientology (RCS) intelligence network the Office of Special Affairs at the end of this post.   I covered this conduct in a post date 27 April, https://markrathbun.wordpress.com/2011/04/28/latest-corporate-scientology-felonies/ and we now have the documents to back it up.

My phone services have been on the account of Monique Carle (my wife’s previous married name) for the past five years.  Mike Rinder’s, as you can see by the second letter below, have been under his own name. Both of our accounts were illegally accessed at the direction of David Miscavige in order to identify and harass those who might communicate with us.

Nearly two years ago Mike Rinder and I reported to the Federal Bureau of Investigation that our phone records were regularly being stolen by the RCS and utilized to harass those in close communication with us.  At the time, both of us were intensively involved in assisting victims of Federal Human Trafficking violations by the RCS with escaping virtual slavery. We shared precisely how the RCS gets at the records, having been parties ourselves to such activity when we worked for RCS.  We provided the FBI with the names of those people (and even some of the phone numbers) conducting such operations against us in real time.

We also provided the FBI with the exact modus operendi of RCS’ continuing and blatant hacking into airline reservation computers to track our every move and disrupt our efforts to free people from illegal human trafficking operations of the RCS.  We gave them the precise locations of the computers the RCS was conducting these illegal operations from. We also pointed out to the Feds how with relative ease they could document this ongoing criminal activity. The highest levels of the Department of Justice in Washington responded by busting the veteran Human Trafficking agent who originated and had spent a year working up the case.

Months later a replacement agent met with Mike and I and told us to our faces that the FBI did not have the capability of confirming our claims of phone tampering and airline reservation hacking.   I have yet to meet a Federal Aviation Administration agent or Homeland Security agent at airports who has not shook his or her head in disbelief and disgust about the FBI’s ostrich-like behavior – and I have met many.  They – like most rational citizens who hear of this conduct – react something like this: “Wait a second. Here we are xraying grandmothers day in and day out, all the while Al Qaeda could just be monitoring like Scientology waiting for a couple key Congressmen to get onto any given flight, and boom!”

But, the Department of Justice reigns supreme in Washington when it comes to law enforcement.  And they apparently have other fish to fry.

Incidentally, that very meeting with the FBI was surveilled by a dozen RCS private investigators whom Mike and I documented with video tape attempting to prevent us from getting to the meeting physically:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=UV6mFJSDYqM

If you are offended by your tax dollars subsidizing this type of expensive, oppressive, criminal behavior there is something you can do about it. If you haven’t already done so, please sign the petition demanding that the Administration act lawfully and ethically with regard to this domestic terror organization that has apparently been given carte blanche to ruin the lives of responsible citizens:

http://wh.gov/4Os

If you have already signed, urge friends and neighbors to do the same – and use the information provided here to educate them.

THE EVIDENCE:

 

Miscavige’s Death Throes

Anyone who has followed the news and/or this blog for very long knows David Miscavige, head of Corporate Scientology, has spent millions of dollars attempting to spread the sickness of his cult compound to the world at large.   Miscavige has given his go-to private investigator Dave Lubow unlimited funds to buy phone records, stalk through illegal electronic surveillance through phone gps devices,harass and annoy, spread rumor and innuendo, and organize KKK-like gangs to stalk and attempt to intimidate.  Now Miscavige has sunk to even further depths.  His agents have set up phony internet links to targets’ names that go back to child porn sex chat sites.

Read all about it at the Village Voice:

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2011/10/susan_clickner_scientology_hates_clean_ice_2.php

Miscavige’s sickness is known as sociopathy in society at large.  His tactics are known as terrorism in law enforcement circles.   One of our primary aims is to de-fang the monster Miscavige’s operates to make lives miserable.  As you can see the monster is becoming more desperate and vile as we progress in disarming it.   Do not be alarmed that these tactic of his can or will reach out to readers and supporters and independents at large.   My prediction of two years ago – that when enough people stand up, Miscavige’s monster will not have the resources to keep up and will begin to lose its grip – still holds, and has been verified as correct in many ways.

The Robert Almblad attacks to the unbriefed may seem like evidence to the contrary.  So, let me brief you on a little known and as yet unreported fact.  Robert isn’t being attacked with this intensity just to lose Mike Rinder his job.   David Miscavige has convinced the Office of Special Affairs (Corporate Scientology’s harassment and terror department) that Robert’s latest invention must fail, at all costs, for one important reason. David Miscavige is convinced that Robert Almblad is going to make a billion dollars and use it to fund our efforts to put a stake in the heart of the beast so that Scientology can be freely practiced independent of the Radical Corporate Scientology racket.

Lose a good man a job, destroy the lives of Robert and his partner, deny bacteria free ice to the millions, ruin the reputation of the “church” of Scientology by running operations reminiscent of Cold War KGB – it is all just kicking the cat to fix the broken light switch to Miscavige.  Collateral damage to the riff raff.

Don’t forget, this tyrant’s universe is caving in:

https://markrathbun.wordpress.com/2011/10/10/inner-core-meltdown-in-miscaviges-bunker/

That Miscavige can be particularly vicious during its death throes should come as no surprise.

On the Independent side of things, everything is going according to plan; matters are under beautiful control.

Whatever you have been doing in the Independent field, please do not change a thing.  The process is working, the tone arm is moving.

Is David Miscavige a Threat to the Public At Large?

If you think the Petition to President Obama has nothing to do with you, your friends, your family, and even your neighbors, think again.  What follows is but one of many stories about how the taxpayer subsidized, mafia-like tactics of David Miscavige pose a danger to society at large.  Ratchet up your confront of evil a couple notches.  David Miscavige with a billion tax free dollars is capable of – and is trying his hardest to achieve – a tremendous amount of chaos and hurt  even to those who have never heard of Scientology. If you don’t want advances in the sciences and particularly health sciences to be squashed like the Dark Ages by a well-heeled sociopath then go to  http://wh.gov/4Os and sign the petition now – then get five other people to do the same. 

– Marty

Robert Almblad with one of his grandchildren

by Mike Rinder

Why doesn’t David Miscavige, the self-appointed leader of the Church of Scientology, want the world to have clean, safe ice?

And just what is “safe ice” and why is it important?

It’s a dirty not-so-little secret in the world of food service, hotels and hospitals that commercial ice machines make “dirty” ice. Numerous studies have confirmed this.  Seven  years ago a high school student in Tampa, FL made national headlines by taking samples from fast food outlet ice machines and toilet bowls.  Testing showed the toilet bowl water was cleaner 70% of the time. Hospital administrators are aware that ice machines are a source of hospital acquired illnesses (HAI’s) – more than 100,000 people die in US hospitals each year due to HAI’s, many more contract non-fatal illnesses they did not have when they were admitted.  But until now there was no technology to solve the problem.

Enter Robert Almblad, an internationally known engineer and inventor, who lives and works in Tarpon Springs, FL.

Robert solved the problem of “dirty ice,” with an innovative solution that could potentially save lives or prevent the spread of illness.

This was big news and welcome news to those aware of the problem.

http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/finally-a-clean-ice-machine-says-tarpon-springs-inventor/1151052

Not so to David Miscavige.  He perceives safe ice as a threat to his “empire” and Robert Almblad among the top 3 on his “enemies list.”

Why? Because Robert Almblad dared to associate with Scientology whistleblowers Mike Rinder and Marty Rathbun.  And even worse, Almblad retained Mike Rinder to work for him.

In the twisted mind of Miscavige, he is determined to force Almblad to disassociate himself from Rinder so Rinder is put into a “more amenable frame of mind” without a job and will therefore cry “uncle” and stop exposing the abuses of Miscavige.

But when Almblad refused to bend to the pressure, Miscavige implemented a plan to destroy him utterly – and along with it, his safe ice invention.

Miscavige’s pattern is a familiar one. Numerous media reports document his ruthless and unethical acts in furtherance of his desire to maintain leadership of his cult.

And so, Almblad became the subject of a widespread, expensive and incredible campaign of harassment.

His friends, family and neighbors were contacted, asking them “questions” like “What do  you know about your neighbor being a criminal?” Of course, there was no evidence of anything of the sort, but merely asking the question throws doubt in the minds of people that don’t know someone.

Robert was followed everywhere for months on end.  Walking the dogs. To restaurants. Stores. Doctor’s offices. Literally everywhere.  It’s a familiar pattern – see the Corpus Christi Caller Times articles documenting the harassment campaign against Marty Rathbun in Texas: http://www.caller.com/news/2011/aug/06/former-scientology-film-crew-member-describes-in/,  http://www.caller.com/news/2011/sep/19/former-scientology-official-arrested-in-on-the/ and http://www.caller.com/news/2011/sep/20/san-patricio-county-rejects-charge-against/

He was followed when he went out of state,  Miscavige and his gang gaining access to airline reservations and dispatching their henchmen as far away as Seattle, Washington.

The staff of his company have been harassed and followed. One staff member, never involved in Scientology, in a now also familiar pattern, is being prosecuted based on false reports filed with the State Attorneys Office after he was approached by Miscavige agents at his home.

Miscavige’s minions set up an office across street to surveil Almblad’s office 24/7.  And because three grown oak trees obstructed the view, someone took a chain saw to them in the middle of the night and left the trees blocking the road.  ONLY the three trees in front of Almblad’s office – no others.

One of the chainsawed trees

From this vantage point, they noted everyone who visited Almblad’s office, and they too would shortly thereafter receive visits from “reporters” or “private investigators” now “investigating” Robert Almblad on behalf of the Church of Scientology.  It got so bad that a Church operative, “Freedom Magazine” hack Jim Lynch burst into a private hotel meeting room in Miami Beach to attempt to intimidate businessmen Almblad was meeting with.  Lynch of course left the scene of the incident before the hotel security could get police there.

These incidents had only one purpose in mind – scare away anyone from doing business with Robert Almblad. And in the process destroy the safe ice business and drive him into bankruptcy. With that, Almblad would be taught a lesson and Rinder would be unemployed.

The campaign to break Robert Almblad failed.  He refused to cave in to their intimidation tactics.

He sucked it up and continued to do his job.

Then, another familiar tactic – numerous websites purporting to be “Robert Almblad”  sites  appeared with outrageous lies and innuendo, intended to sour anyone from doing business with Mr. Almblad.  And then a “special edition” Freedom Magazines further libeling him.  Of course, Miscavige knows that as Robert Almblad finances his inventions himself, he will run out of money before he could recover anything from a protracted legal battle to disprove the lies and sue for contract interference.

It’s a game Miscavige is familiar with – bully with an unlimited budget squashing anyone he sees as a threat.

But Almblad still refused to buckle.  He bought a throw away phone. Rather than flying, he drove from Florida to business meetings in New England so he could not be followed. He used a different name so Miscavige’s agents couldn’t spread lies about him before he could get his foot in the door.

He was not going to give in to the bully.

And while Miscavige spread all sorts of untruths about Robert Almblad being a dishonest, money-motivated scam artist, his actions have proved the precise opposite. By refusing to buckle under, by standing by Mike Rinder and Marty Rathbun in spite of every reason not to, he has demonstrated a level of personal integrity and courage that is rarely seen.

Will he be able to get his safe ice invention to market? That is not clear. If he does, it will be in the face of tremendous odds. And if he doesn’t, Miscavige still won’t win as Almblad, Rinder and Rathbun will not be deterred from exposing his crimes. But the world will not see the benefits of safe ice machines thanks to the machinations of a megalomaniac cult leader bent on the destruction of anything that does not forward his agenda. And every person who gets the flu from eating unclean ice in a restaurant or contracts a disease in a hospital will know who to thank – and perhaps who to sue.