This first CarnivUL(...T) will be dedicated to tracking major developments that have taken place since January in the international protest against the Cult of Scientology, discussing the why of the protest, the who of Anonymous, and compiling some of the best relevant YouTube video produced over the past 3 months.

For those who have visited Blog Carnivals before, be warned that this will be an unconventional carnival. CarnivUL of The fraudless, or CarnivUL(...T), will not in this edition or subsequent editions take all of its content from blogs. It is anticipated that much of CarnivUL(...T)'s content will come from sources such as YouTube, Enturbulation.Org, websites, and of course blogs.

On with the CarnivUL(...T)!

Long long ago - January 14 2008, to be exact - hilarious (and concerning) members-only Scientology propaganda footage featuring the highly indoctrinated Tom Cruise was leaked online. This video gained instant online popularity, being viewed by millions and covered widely on evening current affairs tabloid programming across the world. What was funny was Tom Cruise's glaring fanaticism, over-the-top laughter, statement that only Scientologists are equipt to deal with serious situations like an automobile accident, and apparent unwavering conviction that Scientology was the answer to pretty-well everything. What was concerning was Tom Cruise's glaring fanaticism, over-the-top laughter, statement that only Scientologists are equipt to deal with serious situations like an automobile accident, and apparent unwavering conviction that Scientology was the answer to pretty-well everything. Perhaps most concerning was his statement that maybe, and ideally, one day there will be no more SPs - i.e., people critical of the Cult.

This video wasn't up long before CoS issued a violation of copyright complaint and had YouTube pull the video. THIS DID NOT FLY WITH SOME PEOPLE. To some people, the Internet is Serious Business. Immediately after CoS's move to have their members-only video pulled from YouTube members an online leaderless anonymous cluster of Internet users that collectively referred to their loose minimally structured organization as Anonymous launched Project Chanology.

Who is Anonymous? Anonymous existed long before January 14, 2008. They are an unassembled assembly of anonymous Internet users that tend to meet anonymously at certain websites in order to exchange ideas, jokes, Internet content (which, from what I hear, is often very offensive content), and ideas for online pranks - which are often enacted. As I understand it, the two primary rules within Anonymous - which, again as I understand it, are administered collectively by Anons - are 1) all posting is done anonymously (not even with trackable nicknames, but with complete Anonymity from post to post); and 2) no child pornography. The main purposes of anonymity is so that people can express their thoughts, jokes, content and so forth more freely and submissions can be evaluated purely on their own merits, rather than based on the contributor. Here is one well-produced description of Anonymous:

Many great Internet memes were created and promulgated by Anons - e.g., the Rickroll, Lol Cats, and so on. The RickRoll has become one of the Nets most celebrated Internet memes in recent months, and has become the unofficial official song of the international protests against Scientology.

The RickRoll:

Why the name RickRoll? Before the RickRoll was the DuckRoll, another meme created by Anons which involved created a threat in which visitors would see an image of a duck on wheels, often to some sort of musical background. People would then trick people into going to that threat (i.e., by telling them that the thread was about something completely different that was of interest), and the visitor would be said to have been DuckRoll'd! This same idea was later applied to the 1980's music video Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up". This time, though, some Rollers were increasingly creative and ambitious in their RickRolling - often taking their Rolls into real life (or In Real Life, IRL). Here is the most impressive RickRoll that I've come across (the level of planning and coordination that must have gone into this is great):

Epic Win!

One of the most interesting things about the RickRoll is how it has quite understandably been misunderstood within the Scientology protest world. One of the automatic things humans do when interpreting things is to try to understand the relations and meaning of things - i.e., to interpret them. Because this song, and few others, continued to occur at protests around the world, many protesters inferred that there was some good reason for it. There were rumors that Rick Astley perhaps had been a Scientologist, was mistreated by the Cult, and so on. Nope! There is absolutely no known relationship between Scientology and Rick Astley - until now: his song, by simple coincidence, has serendipitiously become a rallying song for protesters of the cult.

So back to Anonymous' connection to Scientology...

Immediately following Scientology's insistence that YouTube pull all of these Tom Cruise Scientology videos, some individual Anons were outraged - few things piss many Anons more than perceived attempts at Internet censorship and Internet strong-arming. Hence the launch of Project Chanology. "Members of Project Chanology organized a series of denial-of-service attacks against Scientology websites, prank calls, and black faxes to Scientology centers" (Source: Wikipedia). On January 21, members of Anonymous posted the following video on YouTube, which described their plans to destroy the Church of Scientology in order to stop its suppression of dissent, frivolous and bullying litigiousness, deceit, exploitation of trusting members, and so on.

This and subsequent videos and the realization of Project Chanology attracted huge attention, being covered by many major news organizations and creating an online frenzy of YouTube viewers, excited bloggers, and so on.

Then a major transition in the nature of the opposition was spurred. In response to Project Chanology, seasoned picketer of Scientology Mark Bunker released a YouTube video entitled "Message to Anonymous" (I would love to present this video, but cannot because YouTube has pulled Bunker's account and I cannot find a mirror-copy of this video). In this video, Bunker expressed that he and other long-time protesters of Scientology (whom are often dubbed the "Old Guard Critics") are very happy that so many new people are standing against the organization, however, the current means of Anonymous are not the best course of action. By going about the protest by way of Internet attacks and prank phone calls and faxes, protesters are endangering themselves to a vicious potential response from Scientology; further, this is just not the most civil way of going about it. Bunker encouraged Anonymous to transform their movement into a grassroots campaign against the Cult.

Anonymous heard Bunker loud and clear. The transition from cyber-attacks and prank calls and faxes to grassroots activism and awareness-spreading took place over just a couple of days. Anons even enshrined Bunker with the nickname "Wise Beard Man", and the co-occurring statement "Wise Beard Man; His words are wise; His face is beard". This was the beginning of the coming together of the Old Guard with Anonymous. This union led to the widening of many Anonymous eyes, as protesters came increasingly to know that Scientology is far FAR worse than they had ever figured. They learned that the CoS is not just a dissent squashing, frivolously litigious, psychotherapy quack peddling, celebrity trophy-keeping, deceitful and highly insecure organization.

The cult is a thorough-going morally-indifferent malevolent organization that will stop at little-to-nothing to advance its ambitions of social propagation and profiteering, and to stop those who oppose these objectives in anyway. It categorizes enemies of the cult (or "Suppressive Persons", SPs) as second-class citizens that are not accorded the same rights as Scientologists and may be destroyed with impunity to Scientologist culprits. It also has an established practice of encouraging or requiring that Scientologists disconnect from family and friends who are critical of the organization. CoS's Sea Org - the large unit within Scientology that essentially runs the "Church" - is staffed by Scientologists who signed a billion year contract with the Sea Org, and are alleged to often be worked over 100 hours per week for less than $50 USD/week, live in cramped rooms with 3-12 other Org members, are required to have abortions or leave the Sea Org if they become pregnant, may not be married to non-Sea Orgers, are generally not allowed to have telephones and are not allowed Internet connections, TV, or to read their mail before it has been checked by Scientology officials first for entheta (negativity toward Scientology), receive persistent psychological abuse and pressure from superiors, are personally blamed if they get ill, and on and on. For more on the Sea Org, check out the write-up at ExScientologyKids. Astra Woodcraft also speaks of her personal experience in the Sea Org in her interview videos at XenuTV. In addition to the Sea Org is the Rehabilitation Project Force, which has been described by ex-members as a prison labour camp where members are sent and detained against their will, forced to do hours of grueling repetitive labour, etc. Detainees can be held in the RPF for months or years, it has been claimed.

The second major announcement released by members of Anonymous was "Call to Action", which clarified misunderstandings of who Anonymous is and what their goals are, began the new mega-scale awareness campaign against CoS, and announced the first international day of protest against the cult, February 10, 2008:

The 10/02/2008 protest was preceded by a few smaller "raids" (e.g., Caturday - a Saturday protest a week before Feb 10 - the name inspired by the online Anonymous community's interest in cat-related Internet memes just as the LolCats and long cat (which is long)). The largest Anonymous flash picket prior 10/02 was held in Orlando, Florida on February 2nd. You'll notice that some signs in this video read "Honk if you hate Scientology". Such signage has been strongly discouraged by Anonymous, because it conveys the wrong message: This is not about hatred for a belief system, it is about wanting to expose and stop the crimes conducted in the name of it.

So February 10th happened, and it was HUGE! Roughly 7-9,000 protesters converged on roughly 100 Scientology centres around the world. February 10th was huge, and it would surely not be the last time that CoS would come face-to-face with the faceless. In the following video, footage is presented from February 10, and the next international day of protest, Operation: Party Hard, which took place on the Ides of March, 15/03/2008, is promoted:

Now, during all of this, Scientology has been frantic. After all, they'd be dealing with a lot. In the matter of a few months, the cult had to endure to the leaking of the embarrassing Tom Cruise video, the early cyber, phone and fax attacks of Anonymous, the formation and mobilization of Anonymous street protests, the bonding of Anonymous with the Old Guard Critics, the release of Andrew Morton's Unauthorized Biography of Tom Cruise - which contained many damning allegations against the cult, the continual flood of more and more bad press and critical websites, and Jenna Miscavige Hill - ex-Scientologist and niece of Scientology leader David Miscavige - speaking out against the cult and verifying allegations that it separates families.

Regarding the Anonymous protests, Scientologists have been under order from administration to not speak to media. Media relations have been conducted by select administrators who would repeatedly stereotype all of Anonymous as a bunch of lifeless angry bigotted cyber-terrorists who were on par with the KKK. They have refused to dignify the claims of the protesters against the cult, sticking instead with tarring all of Anonymous as a newfangled Klu Klux Klan out to persecute religious minorities, Scientology in particular. They released this incredibly slanted video:

Notice how in this video, they present Anonymous as homogenous and structured organization that is capable of exerting control over the conduct of individuals who choose to protest Scientology anonymously? Anonymous is nothing more than individuals who conceal their identity. That's it. It's not a structured organization in any sense. It gets worse than this, though. There is every reason to believe that much of what they reported is patently false. Scientology has a history of lying, creating fake and anonymous identities, and forging threats to themselves in order to quash dissent. Former Scientologist Tory "Magoo" Christman has spoken on numerous occasions regarding how the organization had her and others create fake anonymous identities in order to spam online chat forums visited by critics and disgruntled ex-members. The Cult has also had members flood opinion polls to manufacturer desirable public opinion results. Most notably, in the 70s the cult stole letterhead from Scientology critic Paulette Cooper and used it to forge bomb threats to themselves. They also tried to have Cooper committed into a mental institution. In an FBI raid of CoS a few years later, documentation of a plan entitled "Operation Freakout" revealed that the cult's Guardian's Office (now called the Office of Special Affairs; i.e., CoS's personal CIA and police force) had conspired to have Cooper incarcerated or committed to or hit her so hard that she stops speaking against Scientology - she had been in the process of publishing the first book critical of the cult.

One member of Anonymous has accused Scientology of manufacturing the video bomb threat, pointing to differences in video quality of previous Anonymously-produced video footage with that used in the alleged bomb threat video:

This is also not the first time that the cult has tried to destroy the public image of critics. In fact, it is official policy to do so. L. Ron Hubbard-penned Fair Game policy reads as follows:

"SP Order. Fair game. 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"

(Source: ExScientologyKids.Com)

In this video, former Scientologist and Guardian's Office staff Frank Oliver describes how he personally was involved in the application of Fair Game to critics and disgruntled ex-members. The level of invasion and abuse is stunning.

In the previous video, you see direct citation of Hubbard saying that the purpose of lawsuits is to harass and discourage rather than to win. It is official CoS policy to file frivolous lawsuits and other criminal/legal actions to discourage critics. Such practices have been a part of the cult's reaction to the current protest efforts. In March they tried and failed twice to file injunctions preventing protesters from assembling outside of the Clearwater org on March 15. The cult has also pursued frivolous legal action action the protester in Boston, Gregg Housh, who filed the permit for the March 15 protest, pressing charges for trespassing and criminal harassment:

(Hat Tip: GlossLip)

The cult also took it upon itself to single out a few protesters that it had managed to identify and publicize personal information about them - their name, address, phone number and so on. Sympathizers would interpret this as the CoS standing up for itself. Critics interpret it as the cult trying to insite terror in the named individuals and everyone else who is rightly afraid of being Fair Game'd.

Probably the most common way of dealing with protester on protest days - aside from shutting the curtains, closing up shop, and keeping the Scientologists away from the windows (this, surely, is what LRH had in mind when he instructed Scientologists to confront and shatter suppression) - was to send out Scientologists who would literally masquerade as protesters in order to attempt to get information from Anons (e.g., names), to incite Anons to do illegal or morally-questionable things (e.g., throw things at the "Church" or at police, start a riot, begin yelling hate speech), and the like. Fortunately, most protesters are pretty good at identifying these Scilons, as they've been dubbed.

The Scilons were a pretty understandable tactic. But some of their other tactics were less comprehensible. For instance, why did this guy have a gun at a peaceful protest that was staffed by police?

The police have also partaken in many highly questionable responses to protesters. There was some pretty dubious police activities at the Buffalo 15/03 protest. In Atlanta two protesters were arrested for using a megaphone, while cars that beeped in supported of the protesters were ticketed:

Despite all of these very unfortunate events, overall the March 15 protest went very well. The success of the protests should be dedicated to those who had to go through these unjustified disturbances. Attendance estimates, to my knowledge, were in the 8-10,000 range. Here's another good video:

So now the protest efforts have been in full-swing for a while. More and more major media networks are covering the protests, including SkyNews, FoxNews, CBC (Canada), CTV (Canada), CityTV (Canada), major newspapers and online news sources, and more and more critical blogs, websites and YouTube posts were showing up. Critics like Mark Bunker, Tory Christman, and Andreas Heldal Lund were becoming household names. And Tom Cruise's Q-rating presumably continued to drop [Note to Scientology and Tom Cruise: I said presumably!]. Further, heaps of private Scientology documents (e.g., materials relating to the Scientology doctrine, the indoctrination process, security, handling of insubordinates, Scientology administration, etc.) have found their way onto the Internet. A CarnivUL(...T) contributor sent a link to his page which linked to these documents. I am refraining from posting the link, however, out of fear of legal action. Sorry, KB... But they are out there.

The sailing hasn't always been smooth for Anonymous as a whole, though. In addition to the misfortune visited upon some individual protesters by the CoS and some curiously motivated police, there has also been some in-fighting. Recall that Anonymous is not something that developed specifically for this protest. It existed for years before January 2008 for completely unrelated reasons. As the protest progressed and more and more people from outside of the traditional Anonymous online haunts (e.g., the Chan image boards) began joining in, some of the traditional Anons (sometimes called oldfags - "fag" in oldfag-speak is a term used in order to resist free speech suppression, and does not necessarily mean anything intentionally derogatory toward homosexuals) began to feel that Anonymous was being hi-jacked by Scientology protesters (who are sometimes called newfags or moralfags). Surely, the Scientology protesters hope that the two groups can avoid stepping on each others' toes.

Soon enough, April came around and it was time for the next protest: Operation Reconnect. Operation Reconnect took place on April 12. This was the first protest dedicated to a particular branch of Scientology's moral-indifference: Disconnection policy. As alluded to above, it is policy within Scientology that members be encouraged or required to break ties (to "disconnect") from anyone who is critical of Scientology - be they family, friends, acquaintances, or whomever. On April 12 approximately 7-8,000 protesters gathered once more at CoS's around the world, this time delivering the message "OT phone home" (OT=Operating Thetan, a high-level status within Scientology).

I couldn't find a good video compilation of the protests around the world, but here's the extremely well done press release and protest promo video (Note: if anyone knows of any good video compilations for 12/04, please leave a link in the comment section):

In the days immediately following Operation Reconnect, things really started to get interesting. Within a week, Tory Christman's YouTube account, ToryMagoo44, was pulled from Youtube (no doubt due to Scientologists flooding YouTube with complaint flags, resulting in YouTube's automated system automatically disabling Christman's account) and then reinstated it about a day later, Mark Bunker released the 3-minute teaser of Jason Beghe's recollections of his experience and his knowledge of Scientology, and Mark Bunker's account, XenuTV1, was pulled from Youtube a matter of hours before he was scheduled to release the full Beghe interview. Apparently, Bunker's account was removed because he had used some content from the Colbert Report. The account remains down. However, he now has a new account over at Vimeo, where you can find the full Jason Beghe interview (which is also all over YouTube) and on Mark's personal blog. The Beghe interview has attracted substantial media coverage from outfits such as FoxNews, TodayTonight (Australia), A Current Affair (Australia), the Village Voice (US), and more.

And then it was only a little over a week until Jenna Miscavige Hill along with Astra Woodcraft gave another television interview regarding Scientology. Click here to see this very damning review of the cult on ABC's Nightline. Nightline reported that they tried earnestly for weeks to get a statement from the CoS.  Finally, the CoS gave a statement saying that they would not comment on JMH's claims as they believe that she has made an ecclesiastical issue a family issue, which they didn't want to be apart of, and that they didn't want to lower the dignity of the CoS by having to make negative statements regarding JMH's character. Anyone who has been paying attention to Scientology knows that this was a transparent diversion. Scientology has spent years defaming critics and ex-members (e.g., Bob Minton, Stacy Brooks, Mark Bunker, Shawn Lonsdale, Gregg Hagglund, and so on). And their disconnection policy casts serious doubts on any significant value they place on family.

TodayTonight then ran a very damaging investigative report on Scientology's Narconon drug-rehabilitation program:

And recently, a YouTuber posted a video of himself reading through the German government's lengthy and detailed warning package on Scientology:

Germany is surely not the only nation to have been highly suspicious of Scientology. A 10-year study recently led a Belgian prosecutor to contend that the CoS should be labeled a criminal organization:

Israel TV recently declared Scientology to be a "medical, moral and social threat".

In response to the release of this video, Dawn of GlossLip wrote:

“Are there any countries left besides the United States who haven’t declared Scientology to be a powerful, sinister and dangerous cult? So far, most of the Western World has identified this organization as a threat to the very fabric of society.

When will we wake up?”

Many people are waking up. Thanks to the efforts of the Old Guard, Anonymous, the ExScientologyKids admins Kendra Wiseman, Astra Woodcraft and Kendra Wiseman, the many people hosting websites on Scientology, and the news agencies, more and more people are coming to see the dark side of Scientology. Dawn herself has played a heroic role in exposing Scientology. In my eyes, GlossLip has become one of if not the leading non-forum website for news updates and exclusive interviews regarding Scientology. In the past few weeks she has conducted interviews with people such as Mark Bunker and ex-Scientologist Marc Headley. Her most recent posts pertaining to Headley, David Miscavige, the Sea Org, the Rehabilitation Project Force, Tom Cruise, and recent developments have been eye-opening and should definitely be checked out.

Here we are now on April 29th. This wave of protests has been in progress now for over 3 months. According to seasoned critics like Tory Christman and supposed Scientology insider leaks the impact has been huge. Scientology stats (i.e., sales, recruits) are claimed to be down, the number of defections is said to have risen, and the number of ex-members speaking out has absolutely increased. In addition to the major monthly protests, flash mini-raids have been staged in Toronto, various places in California, and presumably elsewhere. But the biggies haven't stopped.

The next international day of protest: May 10

The focus: Fair Game policy

Operation: FairGameStop

This, the first CarnivUL of The fraudless, has come to close. To wrap it up, I offer this final (and truly excellent) video as a personal gift to Tory Christman:

To everyone in the Old Guard, to Wise Beard Man (you're spectacular), to the "moralFags" of Anonymous, and to everyone who stands up for human rights everywhere, this delicious cake is for you!

Everyone, regardless of where you stand on the protest, is encouraged to leave comments below!

The what is now an open letter is presented below.

May 13, 2008

City Manager Farmington Hills, City Council Farmington Hills, Chief of police Farmington Hills

I wish to draw your attention to a serious problem but I encountered while exercising my constitutional right to freedom of speech and peaceful assembly at the demonstration against the so-called “Church” of Scientology on May 10, 2008.

As background, you should know that this demonstration was the fourth such demonstration and part of the global movement to expose the abuses and criminal activities of the so-called “Church” of Scientology.  These demonstrations have and will be occurring on a monthly basis in every country on earth where the cult operates.  Each of the monthly demonstrations has focused on a different abuse of the cult, such as its fraudulently obtained  tax exemption, its policy of forcing its members to disconnect from their friends and family, and other abuses.  The issue to be highlighted on this past May 10 was its policy of attacking, harassing and destroying anyone who dares to criticize it.  This policy is known as “Fair Game”.

The demonstrations in Farmington Hills have, as the hundreds of demonstrations around the world, been orderly, peaceful, and lawful.  We have taken the position that we will cooperate with the police and comply with their suggestions and directions, even when, as happened here in February we were told by the Farmington Hills police to remove our masks at the request of the so-called “Church” of Scientology, even though the wearing of masks is legal under the circumstances.

Ironically enough, the wearing of masks is in part due to the so-called “Church” of Scientology’s policy of “fair game”.

On May 10, 2008 a Farmington Hills police vehicle was once again parked in the parking lot of the so-called “Church” of Scientology.  At the very least this gives the impression that the department has taken sides on the issue, and at worst, makes it appear as if the department is acting as an agent for the so-called “Church” of Scientology.  If this is the result of claims by the so-called “Church” of Scientology that they are threatened, then the department should do its own investigation into whether these claims have any validity.  Their national spokesman appeared on CNN on May 8, 2008 and claimed that the demonstrators have made threats, but it was pointed out that the FBI has found no basis for this allegation.

Research and investigation will easily show that the threat is from the so-called “Church” of Scientology.  One needs only to “Google” the terms “operation snow white”, “Paulette Cooper”, and “scientology fair game policy” to verify the systematic attacks on any one who exercises their first amendment rights to criticize it.  Indeed, Time magazine in 1991 published a cover story entitled “Scientology: Cult of Greed and Power”, and spent the next 10 years and millions of dollars to ultimately vindicate itself by proving that the story is true.  You will find that the so-called “Church” of Scientology’s “operation snow white” involved breaking into 136 government agencies and resulted in the criminal convictions of 11 top scientologists, including the wife of its founder L. Ron Hubbard.  See also an ABC news report verifying the  ”fair game” policy and its secret police squad (OSA):

My particular concern on May 10, 2008 was that on two occasions I attempted to summon the police officers so that I could discuss certain concerns, and otherwise engage in a dialog and solicit any suggestions that they may have.  On both occasions the officers refused to merely drive the vehicle less than 100 feet to determine why I was summoning them.  On one of the occasions, since they had refused to drive across Middle Belt, I walked across the street and as close as I could to where they were parked without stepping on the so-called “Church” of Scientology’s property.  Again the officers refused to drive their vehicle approximately 50 feet to determine why I was summoning them.  They would not have even needed to leave their vehicle to find out.  For gosh sakes I could’ve been having a heart attack or other medical problem.

During this time the police officers were readily accessible to people affiliated with the so-called “Church” of Scientology, and talked to them on a number of occasions.  Thus I was treated differently for exercising my first amendment rights.

The individuals who have been demonstrating since the bitter cold days of February, have gone out of their way to keep the department informed of their activities, cooperated with them, and have in fact, invited the department to operate in close proximity to them for their own protection, and that of the officers of the department.  Indeed if the police officers location was based on actual threat it would make sense to be close to the demonstrators.

Although many wear of masks for their own protection (I was not wearing a mask on May 10, 2008), the actions and plans of this movement against the so-called “Church” of Scientology are no secret and can be viewed by any one at Enturbulation.org.  The United States Supreme Court has indicated that United States citizens have the right to express themselves anonymously. The actions of the Farmington Hills police department on May 10, 2008 do not reflect well on its impartiality, professionalism, or its commitment to the constitution and the protection of the constitutional right to freedom of speech.

As a courtesy I’m advising you of the circumstances in hopes that these problems can be corrected internally rather than by higher authorities.

Because of my reasonable concerns of retaliation by the so-called “Church” of Scientology, and in light of my constitutional right to do so, I wish at this time not to disclose my identity.  Indeed, a citizen’s treatment by government should not depend on who they are.

You may however contact me by way of e-mail at: XXXXXXXXXXXXX.

I would appreciate your response.

 I also urge all of you to do simple research into the so-called “Church” of Scientology.  I believe that you will find that not only were the actions of the department unprofessional, but will ultimately prove to be a major embarrassment for appearing to be the agents of a corrupt organization.

For more on Scientology, click here.

Dear *******, (Customer ID: ******) Thank you for continuing to use 1&1 Internet. We sincerely apologize for contacting you regarding this matter, but multiple complaints have been directed to us regarding a recent entry on your site Right Where You Are Sitting Now! - Exploring the Underground and Counterculture…so you don\’t have to! Please call us re: at your earliest convieniance (lol they can’t spell) quoting your customer reference number ********. In the meantime, if you would consider temporarily removing the entry, we would appreciate it.

Upon contacting 1 & 1, the blogger learned that all of the complaints came within the span of one hour and only two of the complainers left a name. What were the names, you ask? The first was "Mark Bunker". Heh. Cute. For those of you who do not know, Mark is only one of the world's most well-known critics of the Cult of Scientology. The second name wasn't nearly as chuckle-inducing. It was the name of the blogger's mother. This is just plain creepy.

Once the blogger explained all of this to 1&1, they dropped it and chalked up the complaints as a prank. Not really a prank, though. To use new underground Internet slang, suppressing critical speech is the new black for Scientology. It's the in thing. Anybody who's anybody is doing it! They've been doing it for a while in Clearwater. Heck, they're trying it again RIGHT NOW! They've also tried it in Philadelphia. As a Toronto Anon accurately declared on her sign this past Saturday at Operation: FairGameStop, CULTS HATE TRUTH.

But the blogger is nevertheless understandably a little freaked out by how one of the plaintants gave his mother's name. He has had a bit of a history with the cult, having been harassed while researching them (e.g., their personality test) during his Master's Degree research. As he has surely learned by now, and as the Cult of Scientology administration is learning more and more by the day, when CoS tries to silence one critic they have to deal with ALL OF THEM. What this means in this case is that their attempts to have his post taken down will have the same effect as their attempts to take down their hysterical Tom Cruise video: many times more people will see what CoS does not want them to see. Their gun just doesn't seem to run out of bullets for their feet, does it?

For more on Scientology, click here.

This was a good opportunity to spread the word on Scientology, as Ed was attending in order to interview Battle Creek Anons for a piece on Dispatches, which would have no doubt been read by thousands of people. I am not privy to Brayton's traffic stats, but judging from the number of visitors that come to The Frame Problem when he drops a link, I wouldn't be surprised if he gets around 5,000 hits a day. Furthermore, having one of the more visited blogs on Seed Magazine's ScienceBlogs may have helped move the Scientology protest up a few notches on the agendas of other ScienceBlog bloggers, many of whom are also read by thousands of surfers a day.

If any Battle Creek Anons read this, perhaps leave a comment in the comment section of his post and maybe an interview could be worked out...

This is absolutely ridiculous on multiple grounds. Firstly, Scientology does indeed fit the bill of being a cult.

Here are some relevant attributes of cults as specified by a the American Heritage Dictionary:

• a particular system of religious worship, esp. with reference to its rites and ceremonies.
• a group or sect bound together by veneration of the same thing, person, ideal, etc.
• a religion or sect considered to be false, unorthodox, or extremist, with members often living outside of conventional society under the direction of a charismatic leader.
• any system for treating human sickness that originated by a person usually claiming to have sole insight into the nature of disease, and that employs methods regarded as unorthodox or unscientific

Secondly, why should Scientology get special consideration? Scientology itself calls psychiatry an evil nazi pseudoscience that is responsible for many of the worst crimes of the Holocaust and for many of the greatest problems facing humanity today and in the past. On what grounds is it okay for Scientologists to make these types of disingenuous statements while it is not okay for protesters of Scientology to apply the semantically valid label "cult" to Scientology? Is it because Scientology is a religion? Well, this is not at all a valid differentiating factor, for two reasons. Firstly, Scientology is not a religion, and England does not recognize it as such. Secondly, even if it were a religion, so what? Can we please move past the inane notions that religions are special and that religion is a license for special treatment?

For more on Scientology from The Frame Problem, click here.

I'll try to keep up on the news on this case. If anyone hears anything on this, please provide links in comment section.

For more on Scientology from The Frame Problem, click here.

For more on Scientology, click here.

 

ENEMY      SP Order. Fair game. 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.

Come out tomorrow to the CoS location nearest you and help raise awareness and put an end to this malicious policy and to the unethical, inhumane and criminal practices of the Cult of Scientology.

Well this is pretty murky isn't it? In some cases it will be pretty clear if something is opinion or fact. For instance, it is a fact that L. Ron Hubbard penned Fair Game policy. And at minimum, there is extensive evidence from many independent individuals indicating that Scientology does strongly encourage (if not force, in some cases) disconnection of Scientologists from people deemed to be critical of Scientology.

But what about calling Scientology a fraud? There is very extensive evidence for this, of course. But in this case "fraud" does not refer to one specific event. It's an adjective used to describe an observed regularity over time in "church" conduct. But can the officers necessarily be expected to know this? What about a sign saying "Tom Cruise Can't Fly". No one has proven that he can't fly. Heh. Okay, that part was just me goofing around. But what is an officer who may not know much about the protest to make of this sign? How about a sign saying that the Church of Scientology is an unethical organization? This is an opinion based on relevant facts. However, it is an opinion. Why should Anons not be able to voice this opinion? To infringe upon this freedom would be a blatant infraction of free speech rights.

What about secularism? What about equality? I hardly see how Scientology deserves special treatment. Heck, not even Scientology follows this code of conduct. Based on all sorts of misrepresentations, they call psychiatry an industry of death. Would a sign declaring "Scientology is a Cult of Death" be allowed? Highly doubtful, even if there have been a number of very curious deaths in the cult. It may still be a stretch to call it a cult of death, but it is one hell of a stretch to make parallel claims of psychiatry.

It's clear that the London police force - as well as many other police units around the world - need to become more educated on this sinister cult. They need to realize that the Cult of Scientology is the terrorist organization. They are the ones who should be receiving extra monitoring from the authorities. For the record, I absolutely support having strong police representation at the protests in order to ensure civility and safety by protesters and cult members. I even see good reason to believe that members of Anonymous warrant a measure of extra police caution given their anonymity and how this could potentially contribute to a sort of mob mentality. However, police forces need to realize that Anonymous is simply a mass of loosely connected and ultimately independent protesters who are protesting anonymously not because they want to wreak havoc or incite terror, but because they are genuinely concerned about being terrorized by this historically vicious cult, with its startling track record of brutally harassing critics.

For more on the Cult of Scientology, click here.

This, by the way, is the same Tommy Davis that tenaciously harassed and appeared to coordinate the persistent spying on of BBC journalist John Sweeney and his team during the filming the BBC Panorama special Scientology and Me:

It did not take long for ex-Scientologist and dedicated critic Tory Christman to go public with her refutation along with a request to for her or another knowledgeable critic such as Mark Bunker to be invited onto CNN to respond on national TV to Davis' claims.

If you want to see Tory appear on American Morning to offer the insights that 30 years of experience in the cult, having been declared a Suppressive Person for leaving and then protesting the cult, and having been disconnected by all of her Scientologist friends and divorced by her Scientologist husband, write CNN a quick note to let them know here!

And don't forget that the next international day of protest against the criminal and unethical practices of the Cult of Scientology is TOMORROW, Saturday May 10, at CoS locations everywhere!

For more on Scientology, click here.

OPERATION: FAIRGAMESTOP

SATURDAY, MAY 10

"CHURCH" OF SCIENTOLOGY LOCATIONS EVERYWHERE

BE THERE! SPREAD THE WORD!

FOR MORE INFORMATION (E.G., LOCATIONS): WWW.ENTURBULATION.ORG

Free hugs were on offer in Melbourne:

Friday in Toronto: Anons were well-received by passerbies; probably not so much by the Scientologists, though:

Saturday in Toronto: This is the 2nd of a 3-video set covering the Sunday flash-raid. In this video, we see Toronto Anons have a bit of scare as Scientologists made an unnecessary and dishonest police call regarding the protesters. We also see the Anons experience a very pleasant surprise, as an estimated 2,000 marijuana rights protesters marched by, taking an estimated 6-700 fliers from the Anons.

I truly hope that Mr. Black, the protester who had his ID taken by police in Toronto for standing in front of the Scientology building for a brief period (though not banging on the glass, as the CoS accused the protesters of), has zero problems with the CoS as a result of this. A few things can be counted on if the CoS does come after him in anyway, however. For one thing, local Anons will be calling every major media agency in the city. Secondly, every Anon on the planet will hear about it within a few days, which will only further strengthen their resolve. Thirdly, Toronto Anons will be contacting Toronto police to defend Mr. Black and to encourage the police to condemn the cult for their misuse of local police services. And finally, we can only expect more Torontonians to show up on...

THE NEXT INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PROTEST AGAINST THE CULT OF SCIENTOLOGY

OPERATION: FairGameStop

MAY, 10, 2008

11 AM

"CHURCH" OF SCIENTOLOGY LOCATIONS EVERYWHERE

 For more on Scientology, click here.