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This is the planet equivalent of a zit. My suggestion is to nuke the volcano, so that, like sticking a needle in a zit, it opens it up and lets the pressure off. That way it won't explode later on.
Now I do agree there will be nuclear fallout, but that won't be any where near as bad as Yellowstone exploding and causing profound climate change.

Can we stack some aliens around the volcano first?

even though actual scientists like Carl Sagan are rolling their eyes

considering the man died almost 20 years ago, that would be an interesting scientific phenomenon indeed.

oblig Baloney Detection Kit links:

http://www.xenu.net/archive/ba...

https://www.brainpickings.org/...

> We need to define a "cameron" as a particularly distasteful (to prudes) sex act so that it gets blocked by the porn filter. I suggest something scatalogical. He is a little shit, after all...

Look up the old Scientology filter software, described at http://www.xenu.net/archive/ev.... The CensorWare software was embedded in the "creat a website" kit they were giving their own members, trying to flood Google searches and prevent access to the cult's inner secrets about the galactic emperor, Xenu. Hysterically, they had my name in their filter list, mis-spelled.

The question, I believe, is whether the CoS really is a belief organization, or a financial scam.

Cost of reading the most sacred beliefs of all major religions: free online, or $10 for the paperback. Jedi may also need to invest in the DVDs.

Cost of reading the most sacred beliefs of CoS: $380,000 (2006 pricing: http://www.xenu.net/archive/pr... ). Discounts available by signing a billion year contract and working full time in return for food.

The Usenet Death Penalty was also not lightly applied. I was involved in those heady days on the old 'alt.usenet.abuse" newsgroup. It took lengthy and absolute refusal to act against a problem that was clearly your own fault, in the face of quite overwhelming evidence presented both publicly and privately. I used to spend quite a bit of time climbing the tiers of support lines to try and get to someone who could actually allow action. They were generally shocked when I was happy to reach out to lawyers and technology people, and to try to get copies of their customer contracts so I could point them to the clauses being violated.

I generally got noted as a net.kook, but staying calm and sticking to the facts and actual abuses, and eventually trotting out the list of ISP's that Canter&Siegel got kicked off of for abuse, turned out to be very helpful. So was explaining about the "NNTP-Posting-Host' header, in RFC 2980, which was eventually considered mandatory by almost all Usenet providers. It was the single largest technological change in helping control the abuse. It was *amazing* how quickly the Scientology spam and cancel messages from netcom.com dried up when NNTP-Posting-Host was finally activated there, in the face of the pending Usenet Death Penalty.

Those were fun days: my name and others got written into the Scientology "build a website" kit they foisted on their members, designed to fill the Google search engines with positive Scientology links (a form of bulk advertising spam) and, incidentally, to cut the Scientologist's network connection on that computer when they detected key words like "Xenu", "Marcab Confederacy", and our names. And no, I'm not kidding, check out the history at http://www.xenu.net/archive/ev...

Fun days, indeed!

I'd mod you down as the voice of logical fallacy if I had any mod points.

In this case, the fallacy of the excluded middle.

Sagan knew, why don't you?
http://www.xenu.net/archive/ba...

If it's a scale error then you are either 3, or a troll yourself.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S...

The ability to spot a scam is VERY easy, here is how:

You'd do better to learn from the master:

Carl Sagan's Baloney Detection Kit

http://www.xenu.net/archive/baloney_detection.html

Both your points are valid if read under a certain light. I was not specific enough.

Ad 3. By isolation I mean family members not allowed to contact each other because their contact is considered directly harmful to the scientologist him or herself. Please see the documentation on this since I was just doing bullet points from the top of my head. Yes, this happens in other cults too and in some fundamentalist countries, but it is NOT practiced in majority religions. If you need to look up the difference between a cult and a religion, there is a lot of reading material available for you; but I don't see people sending out distress calls because their kid has joined Christianity the same way people do with Scientology.

There is even a HOW-TO page for how to leave Scientology: http://leavescientology.blogspot.no/

Scientology does of course recruit. I've been to one of those interviews myself, during which I noticed there was only one author in the entire library we were sitting. Sneaky bastards.

Ad 10. This is NOT babbling. It is a known fact that L. R. Hubbard was a big fan of the navy, and that his portrait is often in a navy suit. His Sea Org is a military operation, please see: http://www.xenu.net/archive/so/

Whereas Catholicism has its own power structure it was never meant to be democratic. The pope was / is (?) a tyrant and his position grew out from the Roman empire. They've had some 1500 years to develop their own structures, and they have been denied military power for a long while. Scientology's structure was made up by Hubbard in a few years and it has its own special unites for dealing with Suppressive Persons (Sea Org), dealing with media, harassing critics aso.

I think, however, we must remember to distinguish between core philosophy and moderate interpretations. The old testament isn't exactly child-friendly, nor is the Bible or the Qu'uran, but modern Jews, Christians and Muslims are in the majority moderate and not pressured into a single form of worship or a single interpretation of their respective religions. If you don't like the local preacher, you can move or leave the group. Scientology is different. It is a cult.

See the senior thesis of Laura Kay Fuller Scientology & Totalitarianism @ http://www.xenu.net/archive/thesis/index.html

(Nitpicking, there are people who continue "Dianetic practice" after leaving the Church. They call it "the tech", or technology, and as such they should look into empiricism and inter-subjective accessible research. No publication in "Dianetic research" is peer reviewed. There is a reason why ex-cult members may need years of de-programming.)

Yes, the Pope has some interesting concepts about the world, such as denying the use of condoms to fight the spread of HIV/Aids. Different to what would be the case in a cult, Catholics can openly disagree and argue that the Bible is misinterpreted on some grounds (most of the Bible is conflicting to say the least). There is only one interpretation in a cult, and that is the interpretation of the cult leader.

I can understand why some people (anti-theists) would just chuck all religions in the same Crazy category, but then you are not being analytic. Yes, Creationists are funny but they don't employ slave labour to punish those who question their beliefs. The FBI has investigated the use of slave labour in Scientology compounds on more than one occasion (http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/02/07/scientology-investigated-slave-labor/), which is also a topic of the featured book I believe (have not read it yet). Also read about "The Hole"; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hole_(Scientology)

The difference lies between Crazy and Evil. Scientology is terrible. All the testimony I've read from ex-members reveals normal good-hearted people wanting to mak

Both your points are valid if read under a certain light. I was not specific enough.

Ad 3. By isolation I mean family members not allowed to contact each other because their contact is considered directly harmful to the scientologist him or herself. Please see the documentation on this since I was just doing bullet points from the top of my head. Yes, this happens in other cults too and in some fundamentalist countries, but it is NOT practiced in majority religions. If you need to look up the difference between a cult and a religion, there is a lot of reading material available for you; but I don't see people sending out distress calls because their kid has joined Christianity the same way people do with Scientology.

There is even a HOW-TO page for how to leave Scientology: http://leavescientology.blogspot.no/

Scientology does of course recruit. I've been to one of those interviews myself, during which I noticed there was only one author in the entire library we were sitting. Sneaky bastards.

Ad 10. This is NOT babbling. It is a known fact that L. R. Hubbard was a big fan of the navy, and that his portrait is often in a navy suit. His Sea Org is a military operation, please see: http://www.xenu.net/archive/so/

Whereas Catholicism has its own power structure it was never meant to be democratic. The pope was / is (?) a tyrant and his position grew out from the Roman empire. They've had some 1500 years to develop their own structures, and they have been denied military power for a long while. Scientology's structure was made up by Hubbard in a few years and it has its own special unites for dealing with Suppressive Persons (Sea Org), dealing with media, harassing critics aso.

I think, however, we must remember to distinguish between core philosophy and moderate interpretations. The old testament isn't exactly child-friendly, nor is the Bible or the Qu'uran, but modern Jews, Christians and Muslims are in the majority moderate and not pressured into a single form of worship or a single interpretation of their respective religions. If you don't like the local preacher, you can move or leave the group. Scientology is different. It is a cult.

See the senior thesis of Laura Kay Fuller Scientology & Totalitarianism @ http://www.xenu.net/archive/thesis/index.html

(Nitpicking, there are people who continue "Dianetic practice" after leaving the Church. They call it "the tech", or technology, and as such they should look into empiricism and inter-subjective accessible research. No publication in "Dianetic research" is peer reviewed. There is a reason why ex-cult members may need years of de-programming.)

Yes, the Pope has some interesting concepts about the world, such as denying the use of condoms to fight the spread of HIV/Aids. Different to what would be the case in a cult, Catholics can openly disagree and argue that the Bible is misinterpreted on some grounds (most of the Bible is conflicting to say the least). There is only one interpretation in a cult, and that is the interpretation of the cult leader.

I can understand why some people (anti-theists) would just chuck all religions in the same Crazy category, but then you are not being analytic. Yes, Creationists are funny but they don't employ slave labour to punish those who question their beliefs. The FBI has investigated the use of slave labour in Scientology compounds on more than one occasion (http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/02/07/scientology-investigated-slave-labor/), which is also a topic of the featured book I believe (have not read it yet). Also read about "The Hole"; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hole_(Scientology)

The difference lies between Crazy and Evil. Scientology is terrible. All the testimony I've read from ex-members reveals normal good-hearted people wanting to mak

...with their "Free Stress Test" (using their glorified ohmmeter) and books and DVDs. It pains me to see gullible people conned into this money-sucking gambit.

Any ideas what I could do to mess with them? On one occasion I printed out the fun and informative Xenu pamphlet and gave it to victims around the mall, but that's boring. Currently I'm considering wiring up my arms with about 30V and volunteering for a test, after first warning the "auditor" that I'm actually an OT8 clear and have been known to confuse E-meters with my powers to control body thetans...

Posting as AC because of the Scientologists well known violent ways of dealing with dissenters...

Your story is similar to the truth, but not the truth. Hubbard actually wrote papers regarding how to get rich creating a Religion years before writing "Dianetics" and founding the cult. You can read lots of good details here. Operation Clambake is an anti CoS web site that has been around for a long time.

Yep, good link there. It's a lot to take in. It led me to the Wikipedia site on Hubbard http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/L._Ron_Hubbard#section_7 . There I did a quick read on him. The guy was a loon! Made his money though, net worth of $600 million when he kicked. I also learned how, at the time, the great writer Isaac Asimov called Dianetics "gibberish", and that's good enough for me, but boy are people suckers. "What a world..., what a world..." - The last words uttered by The Wicked Witch of the West.

Your story is similar to the truth, but not the truth. Hubbard actually wrote papers regarding how to get rich creating a Religion years before writing "Dianetics" and founding the cult. You can read lots of good details here. Operation Clambake is an anti CoS web site that has been around for a long time.

Only if their prints are on file. If everyone is chipped at birth, their chip ID will certainly be on file from birth.

I look forward to the day this happens, because 5 minutes later I'll use an Xacto knife to remove the stupid chip and replace it with a spoofed copy of, oh, lets say Elizabeth Moon's. Or perhaps a made up one, I'm thinking Papa Smurf or perhaps Gargamel.

If nothing else, jam a Microwave door open, shove your chipped appendage in, and hit the +1 minute button two times. Fries electronics quite effectively.

I suppose as far as Science Fiction writers crazy ideas goes, this isn't nearly as bad as Xenu.

I have to agree with you there. I know nearly nothing about Scientology, but I agree with you on principle.

I don't see why it's so popular on Slashdot to hate people who believe in some sort of God.

Scientologists do not believe in a god or God (or Gods), they believe in Aliens in space ships who's souls lay dormant in earths volcanoes, put there by Xenu long ago during the great space battle. These souls infecting us humans are the reason for our misery and pain.
(No, I am *NOT* kidding or making that up!)

They do not believe in helping others. They believe that if you pay them very large 5-digit sums of money every couple of months, that they will remove these souls from your body, thus ridding you of pain and misery.

That is why most slashdotters hate and despise scientologists.
That and their well documented crimes such as kidnapping, torture, and murder.

If you would like to fix the first line I quoted from you and put in bold, I highly recommend the second link here, or the first to "dip your toes" in this frightening subject:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientology
http://www.xenu.net/

Baloney Detection Kit.

Considered, continual use has led me to the belief that Republicans, or at least the current crew who run their party apparatus and the nutwing talk radio shows, are full of Pure, Weapons-Grade Bolognium.

Parallel evolution?

slander stated as fact with unfounded assertions for a rather uncreative run of the mill troll. shame on the fools who modded you up -- please mod up new and interesting trolls for us to enjoy, not the old tired ones; nostalgia not withstanding.

and just in case you were actually serious, we also had less countries with the bomb in '79. (hey, at least my metric is verifiable) That must be the DoEd's fault too according to your logic? A rather lot has changed since then, and you can really ignore all the other changes in society and tie the causation to the management of this afterthought of a gov't dept? really?

Sagan is dead. Long live Sagan.
http://www.xenu.net/archive/baloney_detection.html

IMHO, if the guy's data is on target, it should stand on it's own without needing backup via lawsuits.

"I'm not fan of scientology, or any cult really - but a mainstream organization with illegal work camps? I just never expected that, at all. You'd think the lid would have come off something that extreme some time ago."

It has, if you were paying attention.

CoS's 'Rehabilitation Project Force' labour camps and other extreme 'Ethics' measures have been common knowledge since the 1990s - just check the extensive files on Operation Clambake - http://xenu.net/ .

However, CoS tends to sue massively and engage in lots of dirty tricks whenever the mainstream media cover them at all negatively, which is why you may not have heard about this stuff if you don't get your news from the Net.

They tried to censor Usenet back in the early 90s. It didn't work so well for them. Anonymous is just the latest round in a long battle of CoS Versus The Internet.

Ex-Scientology kids is designed, owned, and operated by three young women who grew up in Scientology, and later left the Church.
A forum for Anonymous Protests against Scientology Signed appropriately, Anonymous We do not forgive, We do not forget, Expect Us.

At least it hasn't (yet) marched a bunch of its adherents into other countries, slaughtering "infidels", or set up any 800-year long inquisitions, or flown any aircraft into buildings, or burned any "witches." Though no doubt, give it time -- fanatics who base their thinking on superstitious bullshit almost always get around to such idiocy.

I'm not one to defend any religion, but Scientology's a lot worse today than any modern mainstream religion. If you need any proof, feel free to have a look here and here. No modern religion forces family members to give up their loved ones, picket outside the house of an 'unbeliever', or essentially, slavery.

A site address has to be highlighted, copied and pasted into an address bar in order for the site to be navigated to. A hyperlinked need only be clicked. Once.

It's obvious to anyone that legally, the hyperlink is no more than text and citation rolled into one entity. But socially and ergonomically, the hyperlink is an invention on par with putting spaces between words and the decimal system. Sure, you could emulate it with older techniques, but you could never replace it.

The people who bring these cases don't care about legalities. They care about just how easy these links, and the internet in general, make it for other people to access material that they don't want anybody seeing, or doing anything they don't want them to do. The issue for the legal beligerants here is not the legality, but the social and cultural effect of me being able to write the church of Scientology believes in an ancient intergalactic emperor called Xenu.

Me writing those words is one thing. Giving a like to a website is another. But merging the together, offing a statement and a place where more can be read is what they detest. It breaks completely the old model they preferred, where media was one way, from distributors to people, and that most information was hard to find and harder to get to. The hyperlink and the internet have the ability to make information equally accessible, anywhere any-time, in a piece of text. What the people bring these case want is to take awy the power of the hyperlink, to try and make it conform to the old rules of distributors liability and one way media. They want to put the genies back in the bottle.

The media and the legal profession hates the hyperlink. The irreverence and convenience with which it provides and uncovers information is in their eyes a blasphemy towards the intricate, esoteric bureaucracy from which they derive their power. When people like Pamela Jones can discuss in a popular way complex laws, suits and legalities using hyperlinked blog posts, this raises questions of why we should defer so much to distributors and legal customs.

These cases are not so much legal battles, as they are social ones.

Please study Carl Sagan's "Bologna detection kit" and repose your argument with the many fallacies removed.

And I should also point out: no one doing "climate science" is a computational physicist, yet a huge amount of climate science is nothing but computational physics.

I find that to be a very strange claim, as I am a computational physicist doing "climate science". Do I, and many of my colleagues, not exist because we didn't go to Caltech at the same time you did?

If you feel that some specific model needs improvement, please help improve it. Otherwise I find your broad and absolutist claims worth very little.

Maybe there's an L. Ron Hubbard cockroach... that's a fitting tribute.

Actually, it should be clams.

So, it's alright for the CoS to forbid their followers from viewing certain websites but not alright for others to ban CoS from editing their sites? Hmm - somewhere in there I think there's a double standard (although I admit that the referenced article is rather unlikely to be unbiased, as is the wiki on the topic)

SmallFurryCreature, I disagree with your statements about how (summarized) this IP ban is a step on a slippery slope toward arbitrary censorship. Your handwringing is emotional but not cleanly argued. Here are my responses:

Your statement that the CoS is being shut out of Wikipedia is false, and you have received a number of responses pointing this out. In effect, Wikipedia is merely making it more inconvenient for CoS to vandalize their content. Vandalize? Yes, see the next point:

Wikipedia has instituted a process for submitting information (including changes thereto) and for keeping content as factually correct as possible, given the circumstances. The CoS has knowingly broken the rules. Stopping CoS, at least in part, from subverting the proven effective process, is not just Wikipedia's right but their obligation. Most users operate on the assumption that Wikipedia's content is factual, provable and unbiased. Their process has been shown to be effective, on the whole, thus so as not to disappoint their user's expectations, they are applying said process.

Wikipedia represents "the knowledge of the world." Unless and until they manage to "clear the planet," the world is bigger than Scientology. What they're doing is interfering with the rest of mankind documenting the current state of their knowledge. If CoS wants documentation of their own view of things, then they're welcome to set it down in a less global venue.

The fact that CoS willingly, knowingly and repeatedly break the rules must make the rest of us question their ethics. In fact, Scientology ethics do perceive Scientology to be above the laws of the rest of the world, based on the notion that the CoS is more capable of making informed decisions on behalf of the rest of humanity. It is precisely because of this self-righteousness, which extends logically to demand the overthrowal and replacement of currently acting governments, that the CoS has been declared illegal/unconstitutional in a number of enlightened countries, of which the USA is unfortunately not one.

A cult is a small, unpopular religion.

A religion is a large, popular cult.

By the strict sociological/anthropological definition, yes, that is true. (Well, sort of: if the small religion broke off a larger religion it's a sect and the correct term for a large religion is church).

But out side of academia, the word cult has a very different meaning. It implies, lieing, brainwashing, abuse, and other illegal activities. Scientology certainly falls in this category. It has violated the majority of the fundamental rights outlined by the UN Declaration of Human Rights. They have killed (eg) and invaded governments (eg). They use what essentially amounts to slavery.

Yes, other major religions have done this in the past. In fact, one notes a pattern to these sort of things: one sees religion participate in these sort of things when it becomes entangled with political or economic interests. The often forgot half of the separation of Church and State is that it protects religion from politics.

Yes, nuts have used other religions as a justification to do ${immoral act} but this is fundamentally different from a church sanctioned and led activity. And these nuts would've found some other justification...

For more really really fun and interesting info, go to Operation Clambake. Before you freak about the URL, the URL is real, and so is the guy (Andreas Heldal-Lund, who runs this out of Norway, which is why Scientology has not gotten any legal traction against him yet). I recommend a read, for what little that's worth.

http://www.xenu.net/

Here is the domain and word list for the censorware. http://www.xenu.net/archive/events/censorship/wordlist.html

Mirror of lawsuit documents:
http://www.xenu-directory.net/documents/200810-godelman-leshay-v-diskeeper.html

Link to access official Los Angeles Superior Court Documents:
http://www.lasuperiorcourt.org/civilCaseSummary/index.asp?CaseType=Civil

Ex Scientologist Message Board Discussion:
http://forum.exscn.net/showthread.php?t=9154

Operation Clambake Discussion:
http://ocmb.xenu.net/ocmb/viewtopic.php?t=29787

Mirror of lawsuit documents:
http://www.xenu-directory.net/documents/200810-godelman-leshay-v-diskeeper.html

Link to access official Los Angeles Superior Court Documents:
http://www.lasuperiorcourt.org/civilCaseSummary/index.asp?CaseType=Civil

Ex Scientologist Message Board Discussion:
http://forum.exscn.net/showthread.php?t=9154

Operation Clambake Discussion:
http://ocmb.xenu.net/ocmb/viewtopic.php?t=29787

A tenet of scientology is that it's okay to lie, cheat, and steal. The doctrine of "Fair Game" (note that if you're a paid-up scientologist you may have a web filter helpfully installed that blocks or modifies that page).

It is almost cheesy-movie-villain evil. If someone claims to be a scientologist in particular, they are saying they're fine with that and therefore trusting them would be totally insane.

That is in marked contrast to real religions, which tend to at least have at their core some variant of "be excellent unto eachother" (even if a power-hungry priesthood fucks it up in practice), the so-called "Golden Rule". While I'm an atheist, I do believe if more people followed the basic humanistic teachings attributed to, say, Jesus or the Buddha, the world would be a better place. If everyone followed the crazed teachings of L. Ron Hubbard, the world would be a nightmarish hellhole.

By the way, does anybody have any links for such flyers I could print out?

You Found The Card is a decent starting point.

Your experience with the Oxford Capacity Analysis (the cult's "free personality test") is consistent with reality. The test has very little real value at measuring the things it claims to measure, but it is useful at screening for people who are easily manipulated.

For a chilling time, print out this answer key to the test. It supplies the "correct" (as far as the Scilon cult is concerned) answers to the personality test. The only person who would sincerely answer every question according to those answer keys is a gullible sociopath, and that's what the cult produces. Just for lulz, memorize the answers, get some fake ID, and try to ace the test. Their script has an interesting way of handling that remote possibility. But it'll still freak out the drone giving the exam.)

If you get stuck, ask yourself what the most fanatically loyal Nazi would answer if the test were being administered by Adolf himself, and that he had a gun to your head. Or how Patrick Bateman of American Psycho would act.

31. Could you agree, to strict discipline ?

Of course, mein Fuehrer. I always follow orders!

129. Are you in favor of color bar and class distinction?

Of course not, mein Fuehrer. This test was written in late-60s America, and that kind of prejudice was something for other people, people dumber than us!

175. Would you rather "wait for something to happen" as opposed to you causing it?

Of course I'd rather cause it. I'm a walking God!

180. Do you make allowances for your friends where with others you might judge more severely?

Of course not. No allowances for personal friends. Obidence to authority first!

183. Are you embarrassed by a hearty greeting such as a kiss, hug, or pat on the back, if done in public?

Of course not. Gods walking among men are never embarassed!

187. Do your acquaintances seem to think more of your abilities than you do?

Of course not. You ever meet a sociopath who felt anything other than underappreciated? Me either.

etc. etc. etc.

Anyone who wonders why the cult is evil has only to review the answer key against all 200 questions. It's a chilling exercise, and I'd recommend everyone take it, if for no other reason than to understand that evil is a compiled form of software, and that this test is what the underlying assembly code looks like.

Our genome is a gigabyte or two in length (a billion-odd base pairs, 2 bits to represent A/C/G/T). 99.8% of our DNA is identical to that of the chimpanzee. About a megabyte.

But here we are in the human brain. 200 yes/no questions - 200 bits -- Twenty-five bytes -- is enough to differentiate a non-socipath from a sociopath.

From Operation Clambake:

In 1967 the IRS stripped Scientology's mother church of its tax-exempt status. With his organization coming under increasing scrutiny from a variety of governments and tax woes abounding, Hubbard wrote his famous "Fair Game" law, which states that anyone named an enemy of Scientology "may be tricked, sued, lied to or destroyed." (8)...

During the early 1970s the IRS "proved that Hubbard was skimming millions of dollars from the church, laundering the money through dummy corporations in Panama and stashing it in Swiss bank accounts. Moreover, church members stole IRS documents, filed false tax returns and harassed the agency's employees." (10)

A US federal court in 1971 ruled that Hubbard's medical claims were bogus and that E-meter auditing could not be called a scientific treatment. The CoS responded by "going fully religious, seeking First Amendment protection...counselors started sporting clerical collars. Chapels were built, franchises became "missions",fees became "fixed donations", and Hubbard's comic-book cosmology became "sacred scriptures." (11)

While the Church of Scientology continued to expand, its private intelligence agency known as the Guardian's Office (GO) ran cloak-and-dagger operations against the mayor of Clearwater, various governmental agencies and anyone else perceived as in their way.

Hubbard had established the GO in 1966 for internal and external security purposes. The GO's purview included attacking critics, keeping members in line and silencing defectors. GO agents "stole medical files, sent out anonymous smear letters, framed critics for criminal acts, blackmailed, bugged and burgled opponents, and infiltrated government offices stealing thousands of files...Critics were to be driven to breakdown or harassed into silence." (12) Eventually, in the early 1980s, eleven GO officials, including Hubbard's wife, were imprisoned following a massive bugging and burgling operation against government offices across the US that Hubbard had personally created and code-named "Operation Snow White." Hubbard, himself was named as an unindicted co-conspirator but escaped justice because no one could find him.

During the power struggles and purges of the 1980s, many people left the church. Some established independent organizations based on Hubbard's writings. The CoS quickly undertook mass copyrighting of all Hubbard materials and took legal steps to shut down the independents. In 1983 the Office of Special Affairs was created to carry on the purposes of the defunct Guardian's Office. (14)

Hubbard advocated harassment of opponents by lawsuit, and so following the CoS's loss of tax-exempt status in 1967, Scientology declared war. For 26 years "...they attacked the IRS consistently on many fronts; suing and investigating individual IRS agents, deliberately obscuring their records, constantly suing the IRS directly, taking out anti-IRS advertisements, funding anti-IRS groups, lying, infiltrating, stealing, bugging, offering rewards for IRS whistleblowers, pressuring congressmen to investigate the IRS, filing countless Freedom of Information Act requests, creating a corporate maze, publishing anti-IRS articles in their own magazines, and other methods. The attacks worked." (15)

In 1993 the beleaguered IRS and the Church of Scientology International reached an agreement, the terms of which were kept secret but were leaked to THE WALL STREET JOURNAL four years later. Per the agreement, the church gained tax-exempt status for itself and its subsidiaries and in return agreed to drop the lawsuits and settle its back tax obligations with a payment of $12.5 million -- a fraction of the estimated amount owed. Many questions have been raised about provisions of this agreement, however the IRS and CoS maintain that it is confidential and will not discuss i

Remember L. Ron's first rule of dealing with the media - "Never Defend, Always Attack."

And of course, any "Suppressive Person" is "Fair Game." (also here). Note the following: "May be deprived of property or injured by any means by any Scientologist without any discipline of the Scientologist. May be tricked, sued or lied to or destroyed."

From the Wikinews article:

Wikinews contacted Schaper for exclusive comments. Schaper replied saying that he is a "very strong advocate for the Church of Scientology, the religion of Scientology and a free speech advocate" and "I don't need to go into details but I felt that my family and myself have been direct targets and in an attempt to control the situation, I started to track down and remove online links between me and my religion. This included postings made by HouseSpiderAnon on his videos, who publicly connected the dots and made them available to a larger audience."

"I requested several times to have my information removed from his videos as I wanted no association with his work but he refused, even after I stated several times that he has the right to protest but that I would like to enforce my right of privacy. He refused and demanded documentation of the attacks, something I refused because it was not my attention to allow more documents to be available online in public hand," added Schaper who also said he has been a victim of identity theft and now has the FBI involved in investigating his claim.

"Tustin PD [police department] has been on the case and now the FBI is involved as well. Social Security has been notified and we have seen about 200 attempts to use the SSN [social security number] for fake credit cards applications," Schaper told Wikinews.

Certainly looks like typical lying/"fairgame" $cientology behavior in action, doesn't it? I doubt one thing Schaper said about himself is true - and certainly doubt the idea that the FBI would be "involved" in the lies of a $cientologist. But that never does stop the Cult of $cientology from going about its business.

Remember L. Ron's first rule of dealing with the media - "Never Defend, Always Attack."

And of course, any "Suppressive Person" is "Fair Game." (also here). Note the following: "May be deprived of property or injured by any means by any Scientologist without any discipline of the Scientologist. May be tricked, sued or lied to or destroyed."

From the Wikinews article:

Wikinews contacted Schaper for exclusive comments. Schaper replied saying that he is a "very strong advocate for the Church of Scientology, the religion of Scientology and a free speech advocate" and "I don't need to go into details but I felt that my family and myself have been direct targets and in an attempt to control the situation, I started to track down and remove online links between me and my religion. This included postings made by HouseSpiderAnon on his videos, who publicly connected the dots and made them available to a larger audience."

"I requested several times to have my information removed from his videos as I wanted no association with his work but he refused, even after I stated several times that he has the right to protest but that I would like to enforce my right of privacy. He refused and demanded documentation of the attacks, something I refused because it was not my attention to allow more documents to be available online in public hand," added Schaper who also said he has been a victim of identity theft and now has the FBI involved in investigating his claim.

"Tustin PD [police department] has been on the case and now the FBI is involved as well. Social Security has been notified and we have seen about 200 attempts to use the SSN [social security number] for fake credit cards applications," Schaper told Wikinews.

Certainly looks like typical lying/"fairgame" $cientology behavior in action, doesn't it? I doubt one thing Schaper said about himself is true - and certainly doubt the idea that the FBI would be "involved" in the lies of a $cientologist. But that never does stop the Cult of $cientology from going about its business.

scientology illustrated

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Scientology Secret L Ron Hubbard Lord Xenu Files Audio Tapes.

Direct Links To Download

The Class VIII Auditor Course Lectures Xenu Lecture Confidential Tape 68
http://www.mediafire.com/?vfh9tuiyham

Scientology Role of Earth Lecture 10-30-1952
http://www.mediafire.com/?gctr3yoipfe

L Ron Hubbard Audio Clips Collection Links
http://www.mediafire.com/?fr7m2j4xyot

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http://torrents.thepiratebay.org/4093016/The_Profit_(2001).avi.4093016.TPB.torrent

Now onto the description: (from wikipedia)

The Profit is a feature film written and directed by Peter N. Alexander. The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in France in 2001. Distribution of the film was prohibited by an American court order which was a result of a lawsuit brought by the Church of Scientology, although the filmmaker says that the film is not about Scientology. The Disinformation Book Of Lists and The Times have characterized The Profit as a banned film in the United States.

http://torrents.thepiratebay.org/4093016/The_Profit_(2001).avi.4093016.TPB.torrent

Out of curiosity, why is it that people get bent out of shape about this 'religion'?

I got to witness an anonymous rally in San Diego about a year or so ago and it was just silly. Yes, you and I may know the whole thing is a crock, but isn't there supposed to be freedom of religion?

Not looking to start a pissing contest, I'm just wondering where people get their priorities.

Just go to http://www.xenu.net/ and all will become clear.

Who modded up this fine example of anti-logic trolling as insightful? For shame.

Study, learn, & love Carl Sagan's Baloney Detection Kit:
  http://www.xenu.net/archive/baloney_detection.html

And get "How to lie with statistics" from your local library if you have not yet read it.

Folks, it's not the change in temperature which is extraordinary and unprecedented in the geological record, it's the rate-of-change.

I don't disagree with you, but I don't see how that relates to this case (I have read http://www.xenu.net/copyright.html, I assume that's what you're talking about.)

In the software world, copyright restriction is the norm. For instance, you simply can not copy Microsoft software (or even install it in your computer) unless you buy it from them (they call it "licensing"). That's broadly accepted, no one really disputes that. What people dispute is that copyright was initially intended for a different purpose that what it's being used today.

The GPL (and other licenses) are chosen by authors because they want to be less restrictive than that. You're free to not accept the GPL, but then you're back to not being able to copy (or change, distribute, etc.) the software.

"Oh, Scientology is not really any more far out than Christianity" (Subtext: this makes it "ok", it's like other bona fide religions and we let them stick around, right?)

I have heard this notion cast about for some time now, here at Slashdot and elsewhere, and it disturbs me that so many people miss the important point here. The issue is not whether Scientology is any weirder than other religions. Their bizarre beliefs are not in and of themselves the danger. The real danger is of the same kind we have seen before. It is very familiar, everyone here has probably read about it at one point or another, perhaps in a history book, or a newspaper.

And that danger is that to the average Scientologist the only hope for the world is through the philosophy of Scientology. It MUST be spread to every corner of the globe by whatever means necessary. Our society MUST be rewritten according to its standards and methods. And its current standards and methods are clear that any means are acceptable to reaching that end. ANY means. The laws, morals, ethics, etc. of the rest of the world are secondary and can be ignored if it means furthering the aims of Scientology.

THAT is the danger in a nutshell. As I have said, we have seen this sort of thinking before:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Jones

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Koresh

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazism


And we have seen what happens when Scientologists are allowed to practice this "philosophy":

http://www.whyaretheydead.net/

http://www.scientology-lies.com/investigation.html

http://www.xenu.net/archive/go/index.htm


There are still other dangers to be considered as well. They turn people away from doctors, medicine and real mental help while giving pie-in-the-sky promises of curing all your problems (up to and including things like cancer, diabetes, schizophrenia, and homosexuality, which they consider a "mental illness"). Many have died believing Scientology would cure them.

Then there is the fact they their "disconnection" policies have, and are continuing to rip families apart: http://www.scientologydisconnection.com/

Children of Scientologists are often denied education, either by being discouraged to go to college (and in many cases any non-scientologist school), or if the parent is a staff member (or if the child is), they may be forced into a Scientology children's organization of one sort or another where they will receive a substandard education, if any. In my experience (which others shared with me and I have found out is all too common elsewhere), I was recruited at a young age and told that my education would be provided for. I and all the other children at the location I was at were given a 4-5 hours a day in a classroom-like environment in which we were to pair off and study "whatever". There were math books, science books, books on spelling and such. But there was no teacher, no curriculum, no grades, no structure of any sort. Often the class was cancelled if we were needed for more important matters (meaning anything to do with Scientology's well-being). To get around this we were all instructed and trained in how to lie if the city sent someone by to check on conditions there, and we were to tell them that we were always getting our study in.


I understand that there are some similar practices in other religions as well. I oppose these too. Religions that forbid surgery or blood transfusions, those that sucker people into "faith healing", all are doing a tremendous disservice and must be opposed.

Scientology too must be

that state unequivocally that COS is a cult. Members were or are even banned from emigration into the UK. It is not recognized legally there as a religion.
Operation Clambake has a just a few of them here; http://www.xenu.net/archive/judge_quotes.html
This should be more than enough fodder to fight the matter on if CPS even decides to press it to test.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_flag

The cult is doing this to make Anonymous look bad.

I used to be a Scientologist, and I can tell you based on first hand experience that this is EXACTLY what the cult would do.

This is not the work of those who fight and oppose the cult of Scientology.

The cult has already taken to creating fake videos and messages that appear to be from Anonymous and that contain threats of violence against the cult itself. This latest stunt is simply the next step in their campaign of demonizing Anonymous.

The problem with Anonymous is that anyone can pretend to be part of the group. While they are highly resistant to efforts by the cult to target them as individuals, they are vulnerable to false-flag tactics such as this one.

This is not the first time the cult has done this. Back in the 70's they targeted a woman for writing a book that revealed the evil nature of the cult. The cult responded by forging evidence linking her to a fake bomb threat, among other things:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Freakout

She was facing a long prison sentence until the FBI accidentally discovered that the cult had set her up while conducting another investigation

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Snow_White

Scientology is evil. It is something that most people who have never dealt with the cult have a hard time understanding or believing. To describe the nature of this cult to someone who is unfamiliar with it is very difficult because polite society lacks the terms needed to accurately convey the depth of evil found within this organization. It is also difficult because an accurate description defies belief. Most people are unable to contemplate something so evil actually existing in the real world.

But scientology is that bad, and it is real. Its victims are a multitude and its crimes are horrific.

But don't take my word for it, read up on it yourself:

http://www.xenu.net/
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Library/

Yeah, videos of that stuff, now that would be wick3d! When I see what 'their' volcanos look like, wow... :)

You can find a very detailed explanation here. Basically, questions like what is scientology, what is the e-meter, and last minute news about scientology, can be found there.

I wonder how come I have not seen this site mentioned in the higher modded posts. It's the most informative website about scientology.

I firmly believe this supposed anti-CoS piece, HOW TO TALK TO A SCIENTOLOGIST, is written by a practicing Scientologist.

The essence of it is: "F- off, don't talk to me."

Of course Operation Clambake is an better place than /. to start building an opinion.

Scientology is a cult, but whether the founder is alive or not has nothing to do with it.

# It uses psychological coercion to recruit, indoctrinate and retain its members.
# It forms an elitist totalitarian society.
# Its founder/leader is self-appointed, dogmatic, messianic, not accountable and has charisma.
# It believes 'the end justifies the means' in order to solicit funds and recruit people.
# Its wealth does not benefit its members or society.

From http://www.cultinformation.org.uk/faq.html#cult and also http://www.xenu.net./

I'm all for some CoS bashing, but let's do it right, eh?

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