Another “Oops” from within.
And this one is sadder than most.
This couple “had to sacrifice many things in life” in order to hand over the needed funds to be anointed a “humanitarian.” And it was all for naught. That is truly sad. I imagine these are good people who believe they are helping their fellow man.
But setting that aside, let’s discuss the imaginary bunnies that spread tall tales believed only by those in the bubble.
Pam and Ed make a rather startling admission.
When they say “during Boston’s St Hill size days” this was in the early 70’s… nearly 50 YEARS ago. St Hill size is, according to L. Ron Hubbard, when an org is “above the Make/Break point.” And that means expansion just continues and continues. Yet Boston fell and it can’t get up… for nearly 50 years. And Boston is the ONLY org apart from the “original St Hill” that Hubbard himself said was St Hill Size. Even the original St Hill is a shadow of its 60’s heyday. So, the two “above the make/break” point orgs that Hubbard wants all other orgs to aspire to are both dismal failures.
And even with that, the “ideal orgs” that have been made cannot achieve the “size of old St Hill” though they have been trying desperately for years and years. What a terrible admission of failure.
But, if this is what is so important, why aren’t Ed and Pam on staff today? Why did they leave?
This provides a little window into the world of scientology where money is EVERYTHING and affords you virtually unlimited status, but devoting your life to scientology as a staff member is the lot of an indentured servant; a thankless, endless hamster wheel of pain. This is also likely the leverage used on these two to get them to hand over money they probably didn’t have. Guilt. It’s a primary motivation in scientology. These two have been guilted for no longer being unpaid staff working 80 hours a week and in order to salvage their standing in the community (few are as low as ex-staff or ex-SO) they bled some more cash they couldn’t afford to be given an illusory status that means nothing outside the hermetically sealed world of the true-believers.
Finally, they are apparently serious about being able to shake the hand of COB? Believe me, it’s not all it’s cracked up to be guys. An imaginary rabbit will give you more thanks than you will get from Miscavige. The COB will simply look at you as another sucker that handed over money. Because that is all you are to scientology.
My suggestion to you Ed and Pam is to jump in your car (if you still have one), take a swing by the lovely New Haven org and then pop down to the ideal orgs in Manhattan and Harlem. Wander around. actually observe the obvious, what you can see with your eyes. And ask yourself honestly, “is this really what the end result of all this money is?” Tens of millions have been spent on these two orgs. Yet Boston Org in 1972 was WAY beyond what either of these empty caverns are today. The problem is not lack of money to buy buildings.
Once done, you can send me a thank you note for saving you more of your hard earned money from being frittered away on a useless real estate scam.
I could just cry when I think of some of the things these poor people think.
Metaphore of the Year goes to:
“. . . a thankless, endless hamster wheel of pain.”
And the comment of the week goes to:
“… you can send me a thank you note for saving you more of your hard earned money from being frittered away on a useless real estate scam.”
A real estate swindle and tax fraud… that is how David Miscavige and his evil organization scientology will be remembered.
And who enabled him, hmm?
Who enabled him is every singe individual who has ever reg’ged people for this scam and every single individual who ever fell for it, including myself for a while, back in the day, and including everyone who still fall for it.
That’s how the machine works: gotta have willing participants fueling it.
No words. The insane greed and con of DM and his league of IAS reges…DM should be in jail.
He knows exactly what he’s doing to these people and others like them.
There will be health situations in the next decade or so that come with age. Markets aren’t dependable, so whatever they have left, will it be enough to see them through? Their working years are nearly over. Their children, if in, will not have endless funds either, because the cult of Scientology will be taking every bit it can for any excuse so DM can build his real estate portfolio.
For what? To spend millions on advertising and empty buildings?
Hospitals and clinics could have been built with all those funds. Sea Org could have had medical care and at least minimum wages and decent working hours. But no – DM is never wealthy enough. More more more more. It’s never enough money, and it never matters to him who gets hurt.
Sad.
More and more people are demanding a David Miscavige perp walk.
Once upon a time I used to rent rooms in my house to various folk, mainly staff. As a staff member, I needed all the extra income I could get. I’ll never forget when the new guy in the front room came home and announced that “rent might be late this month, but he’d have it”… He had just joined staff at the org.
He said he’d joined staff and that the org was ‘going to go Saint Hill!” It wouldn’t take long because that was just “a consideration” and that it takes about 6 weeks to go Saint Hill Size. He might not be paid much until then, but THEN…ohhhh…THEN…why he’d have the rent!
……….
I gulped.
I weakly said, “oh….um…that’s great.”
and mentally thanked myself for banking all kinds of cash for cushions against unpredictable life. I was on my own and didn’t like financial danger.
He ended up owing me months and months of rent. It took years to get it, but I stuck to it. I used channels and got it, swimming against all kinds of veiled threats and guilt trips. (I should “forgive the debt because of his contribution” and so on) I was staff for 20 odd years and that didn’t fly with me.
“Make it go right!” “get your exchange in” “that wasn’t the agreement” and all kinds of other cult speak used to my advantage.
…….
but…that moment…he told me…. *shakes head.* I knew I couldn’t say a freakin word …I’d been staff DECADES already.
Oh, my sweet summer child…..
I can relate, Secret. Similar situations with renting rooms in apartments I had to staff. Well done on being persistent and getting back the money owed. I let these things drop because it was too upsetting and I needed my attention on my business. Goodby, good luck, good riddance and never again was how I handled it but I should have persisted and made them pay because I TRUSTED them and actually, its bad karma for THEM that I let them get away with it. Not for me, although I was irritated and resentful for a while. Bad karma for them.
Hey, Aqua, check this out! When I was on staff at CCNashville, five of us lived together in a house. Due to the fact that my staff duties wouldn’t allow for a moonlight job, I was hard pressed to pay my share of the rent which caused a lot of ARCX among us. Only when I left staff at the end of my contract and landed a job with,get this,
Goodwill Industries, was I able not only to pay my full share of the rent but also all the back rent I owed. It’s so hilarious! Everybody was screaming at me “Make it go right!” and that’s exactly what I did!
Well played Alcoboy! Working for a REAL non-profit enabled you to pay off debt accumulated while working for a fake non-profit.
Alcoboy, my hat is off to you for making it go right for real! Just not the way they intended – oops! Well, too bad for them. Amusing story and heartwarming too, thank you.
it would be interesting to dig into this whole area of the joys of being a Scio.
There’s stories in them there hills……
That weird thing in Scn wherein you are expected to fully trust each and every other scio, and that in any trouble the Chaplain is the only place to go. No police, courts or wog justice.
Work for a Scio, he’s using LRH teck to run his company, and people are owed back wages like crazy and can’t collect.
All the times people borrowed money from another Scio for a Scholarship Package or Clear package, the next Intensive needed – promises to pay back that fall through….and the ORG REGGES were often the ones who helped set the whole loan up!
People selling their small business to go into the SO, only the payment plan stops …
We trusted other scios in a way unheard of in the real world – at Flag you leave your purse, phones, and all manner of personal and valuable items sitting in student or pc areas. You’re not allowed to take them into course rooms or auditing room. You have to learn to leave your stuff out where a couple hundred people have access and trust that they won’t mess with your things.
….
And when it goes awry, you … YOU are the one who has to “be careful”. Just like you can’t tell the bright eyed new tenant that the org has been trying to go Saint Hill size since 1982, so let’s have a back up plan for rent……
You can’t warn him his new moonlighting job is with a local Scio with a history of piling up back wages.
You can’t scream too loudly that it was the Reg who asked you to help out on this loan cycle for a new upstat who just needed a short term loan…..
You, the one screwed, has to tip toe carefully and persist with a painted on smile if you have any hope of justice.
…….
I was aware of all of this while it happened to me and about me and somehow I was able to still the noise in my head about it, apply that policy and keep my dedication. *sigh.
Pam, Ed, shame on you!
You thanked everybody but COB!
Yep. That’ll get them sent to Ethics.
Which of course will cost them even more money!! The financial bleed out of Scamology NEVER stops..that is till Miscavige does the perp walk-
This is so sad. When the bubble finally implodes, it’s the genuinely good, well meaning people like these who will be faced with the cruel reality that they have been utterly deceived for decades. So for them, what’s worse? To wake up and realize they have been duped out of their life’s savings for the greed of a false prophet? Or to carry on believing that they are doing some good in the world….? For their sake, I hope they wake up.
Oh NO….say it “ain’t so”….Please DO NOT compare the organization’s dealings to my all time FAVORITE movie “Harvey”……starting legendary actor James Stewart etc…..
What may or may not be known is that Harvey was said to be a “Pooka”
The púca (Irish for spirit/ghost), pooka, phouka, phooka, phooca, puca or púka) is primarily a creature of Celtic folklore. Considered to be bringers both of good and bad fortune, they could either help or hinder rural and marine communities. The Púca can have dark or staunch white fur or hair.
The movie goes on to relate a bit of addition information about Pooka’s being seen by those who consume large quantities of alcohol or who was not mentally stable etc…….
Harvey deserves better than being compared to ANYTHING to do with “the organization & it’s dealing”…..yikes Mike, lol!
They actually look so sad in that picture. Like they are at their daughter’s wedding and she is marrying some loser that they know is going to hurt her. And what are they thanking their “friends” for, exactly? Thank you for encouraging us to spend money we don’t have? Thank you for advising us that not being able to make the payments on our second mortgage is not really that bad? Will they still be friends worth thanking when the Maher’s declare bankruptcy?
Probably thanking them for lending them the money to complete the humanitarian status….so sad
Geezers that’s sad.
Scientology, the art of turning dreams into nightmares.
ROFL
Mike,
You find these amazing snippets that reveal the true condition of those inside the bubble. Sad only partially describes what I saw in the picture of this couple.
I saw tragedy, sorrow, melancholy , regret, propitiation, mourn, distress, lament, and sucked dry. They would be pitiful, but for the fact that these two are willing participants in creating their own ruin.
If these two represent ‘success’ in scientology these days then I want no part of it.
I’m not sure what I read. The couple made an admission that things never got Saint Hill size in 50 years, Later in the article the page the Humanitarian Page. So I don’t get it, did they leave? or the fact they questioned the non growth will cause them to be thrown out and overboard.
PS..I just reread, I was hoping to read why they left..
The resilience and capacity for abuse of the remaining Scn. amazes me to no end.
After suffering in way too many torturous months or years of fund raising events, you can feel the group think, solid as concrete, “Come on people, step up to the plate so I don’t have to keep going into more debt.”
The final funds are secured, everyone is high as a kite thinking “FINALLY, this crap is over!!!” They get a week off to have their “win” only to find out…
“Before we can move into the building, we are having a fundraiser event for renos!!!”
Jane Doe it is the process of elimination. Those who lack the ability to “know” are all who is left in the cult. Inside or outside the formal church.
Ironic because scamology was supposed to be all about knowing how to know. Or, how fast can you leave scamology and thus have reached its “E.P.”?
Wynski, did you know that previous qualified donors that have their ideal org done were regged for other orgs not in their area? Just when they thought they were safe, the finish line of ideal org for their area gets moved to an ideal state, then the target gets moved to an ideal continent. I heard some of them even attended fund raising events out of town and helped pay for more buildings. I hope they eventually get the real “E.P.” you mentioned.
Yep Jane. I knew that. Reges can smell stupid from 1,000 miles away.
I think for some it will be a multi-lifetime process until EP
Of course the cult can be blamed.But at least 95% of the other former suckers(like me) woke up eventually.
Maybe they should run service facs handling:
How does still being a Scientologist make you right?I have the tek!Supa powerz will be mine!
Make other wrong.Thy are wogs!
Helps your survival.Paying and paying gets me to ensure my eternity!Why would you worry about that now if you have live millions of times before?
Great post, xenu’s son. I no longer pity these suckers. I was suckered for a while, looked around, woke up and closed my wallet. Many, many others did the same. What we have done, the Still Ins can do. With all that’s out there refuting Co$’s phony PR, if they keep giving, fuck’em, I say. Sooner or later they’ll have to wake up as there will come a point where they can no longer twist and turn away and not look. The longer they wait, the worse it will be for them. The cult is endlessly rich but the truth is out there. If they won’t look, fuck them. Let them get screwed. I’d sooner feel sorry for someone who’s starving to death with plenty of delicious food in the next room, but they’ve been ordered to never open that door. All they have to do is turn the knob, open the door, go into the room and eat, but…ok, you get the idea. Some people are just too dumb to live, unfortunately. And some of them have a lot of money to piss away. So be it.
This is why Miscavige will never release OT 9 and 10. Because no mOrg will ever hit ‘Saint Hill Size’. An empty promise doled out by an conniving, lying, moving target spewing scumbag. And yet the deluded minions are still taking all that in. Or are they? That wossshing sound is the displaced air from the legion of minions who are escaping and not being replaced.
It seems to me, that the CofS’ leaders have always done what is expedient – Scientology is virtually the embodiment of “ends justify the means” type thinking, and the most cynical situational ethics. I think that if Miscavige is desperate for some new “latest, greatest thing” then he will declare a “win” based on some new standard such as having built all the “ideal” orgs, or else a crisis with the world in need of saving, and release whatever new OT levels he thinks he can sell the remaining loyalists on.
Zemu, Mike has stated there is NO OT 9,10. Mike, I believe you were being interviewed by Chris Shelton or Aaron. Just another ploy to drain money, keep the hamster wheel turning for the believers.
Such a sad story. These people have given everything to a big money con. I hope for their sakes they get out of this cult but after fifty years of service it will be a hard thing to do.
Where are they going to go? You have no skills. You’re worked to death. And your afraid to speak up. This is not going to end well…
After 50 years of Scientology prison… any form of “awakening” would be excessively brutal. It boggles the mind to think of what would be the result of them discovering they have been had, and then discover Hubbard was at the bottom of it all. OUCH!
Did have a random thought about all this though. Perhaps if the court system introduced a procedure where convicted felons were forced to do Scientology courses in an RPF manner and it was widely advertised, the crime rate might just plummet. What a crime deterrent Scientology would make – I’d certainly think twice before committing a crime if I knew I’d be thrown into the RPF in prison if caught. Scientology just might have a use after all. (mmm, strong coffee this morning…)
Yes, its going to be bad for them but there are penalties in life for bad choices, and there are penalties for being stupid, stubborn and willfully blind, for being willing to lie to others and to oneself. There are severe penalties for operating this way in life. So what else is new? We owned up to it. Plenty of people on this blog lost enormously in every way that one can experience loss. Plenty of people on this blog and elsewhere are dealing with all the emotions of having woken up. We took responsibility for being scammed, didn’t we? Are we so superior as beings? No offense or disparagement to myself or anyone here,but I don’t think so. I’m not wasting my pity on these people. Help them, yes. Once they have their realizations and blow. But no, I don’t feel sorry for them, and I won’t listen to their whining and blaming. It was all right there is front of them and they refused to see it. Just like it was all right there in front of us, and finally, in our own time, each of us saw it. Some of them will just take longer, that’s all. Their process in waking up will be no different than our process. Its all right there for ANYONE to see.
Yo Dave,
One more thing ……………………… matters are about to get a lot worse for You in the land of Cults and Fake Religions. It’s going resemble an avalanche of pure ugliness Dave. “Look at that mirror.” .GOOD! “Walk over to that mirror.” THANK YOU~! “Touch that ugly mug and repeat after me ………..what the fuck have I done lately?”
Ah, the good ol’ Confrontation Rundown!
Yes, this is truly a telling posting from within the bubble. Any lurkers, under-the-radar, fence-sitters, sideliners, doubter types (and especially OSA net nannies) should take Mike’s advice and observe the obvious. Take Hubbard’s advice (his only good advice) and LOOK, DON’T LISTEN.
I’m guessing that whoever got ahold of this “success story” and published it is very young and the idea of an org being St. Hill sized is just a tale from the olden days, the stuff of legends. They probably thought that it sounded good, but as Mike points out, it is just a clear revelation of failure. Also, whoever published this is probably doing some ‘lower conditions’ as a result of their misstep and MUs. They probably need some ‘false data stripping’ to make them foolproof.
Being the stuff of legend, St. Hill size is just a myth. I was in an org that achieved this status in the 80s and I’m willing to bet a month’s wages that there isn’t an org on the planet that is even close to being St. Hill size today. Those made up levels of growth and expansion were merely a result of a ‘stat push’ to achieve temporary results that quickly faded away like a win after a session.
This is a good thing. We just need more success stories like this one and maybe a few folks will wake up and smell the coffee.
Or, maybe Boston Org, once really St. Hill size, is shrunk after an onslaught of very powerful SPs going after the Boston O’Tease and handing them their asses.
” Also, whoever published this is probably doing some ‘lower conditions’ as a result of their misstep and MUs. They probably need some ‘false data stripping’ to make them foolproof.”
Ms. B ……………… I’ll take odds that it was not even noticed until it showed up on this blog. Now you can bet that heads are rolling.
Yo Dave,
What the f^&K good buddy? Do You have to do EVERYTHING including Pee Are checking the success stories for gawds sake. You truly do have a yuge job chairing over all that is boring in the life of the most famous cult leader (well maybe not quite THE most famous) the world has ever known.
Yo OSA,
Geesh You guys. Can You give the loser Chair person a hand here. I know the hours are long and the work is Boring but certainly You can step it up a notch or too. Tomorrow is Thursday and You know what horror that brings. You could always ask Eff Pee to do a little shit stirring ………. we have missed him/her/it and we also know that there is plenty of the stuff to stir in Daveland these days. Get On It boys and girls!
This gives me the sads. This older couple should be enjoying their retirement and their grandkids (who for all I know are disconnected if they exist at all). They were on staff 50 years ago? Which means they have devoted their entire life to this con scheme. And they are now broke, and they do not look particularly happy. And all they have to looking forward to is shaking DM’s hand.
IF they can find it #so tiny
“all they have to looking forward to is shaking DM’s hand.”
I’m not sure they have the bleeping rank to shake his hand, even now. ?
It really is a sad story. I’m not sure what to wish for them. To face that big a loss — and on top of it possibly lose family as well — it would have to be overwhelming, and possibly literally unbearable to them.
Such a waste. Scientology is this machine that chews up human lives and all their potential, converts all it can to money in foreign bank accounts, and spits out the residues.
Well, THEY let it go on, didn’t they? THEY perpetuated this, didn’t they?
On and on and on, for 50 years! What’s wrong with THEM that they haven’t LOOKED in 50 years? Think about that.
Oh, I know how harsh I sound. But the EVIDENCE for all the lies they’ve been swallowing for 5 decades has been ALL AROUND THEM, all along. Just as it was all around US, all along!
They don’t even have to go on the internet. All they have to do is look at the orgs – heir own. Others. Just LOOK.
We did. WE looked. Why can’t, or won’t – THEY?
Are WE who looked, saw and left so VERY much more intelligent, aware, perceptive, etc., etc. etc. than they?
Respectfully, i do NOT believe so.
I believe a number of these Still Ins to be quite intelligent, aware, perceptive and as such altogether CAPABLE of looking IF THEY WANTED TO.
Respectfully, I believe that the they do not look because THEY DON’T WANT TO.
Very simply, they don’t want to!
So, they don’t look…and they stay in…and keep getting screwed!
There are none so blind as those who will not look.
Thinking it through, it occurs to me that perhaps they’re there, apparently slowly completing their “humanitarian,” just in order to keep connected to children, grandchildren, friends and business contacts. And if they were, they’d want to make their story sound to the regges, as if they’d dug as deep as they possibly could….
That’s the strange hall of mirrors world of Scientology these days, looking at something like this there’s no way to tell for certain whether they are diehard dupes, or savvy UTRs.
You’d think that having been on staff when Boston was at its biggest and most active, and having seen it decline to the sad state that it’s now in, they’d have a clue as to what is really going on, and know that an “ideal” building isn’t going to fix anything.
Peacemaker, all your reasons for them are valid. Keep in mind, though, that these reasons existed just as much if not more for the many who DID leave.
Not for me, by the way, but for so many here and at Tony’s and elsewhere, so many, over the decades.
Children, grandchildren, in the cult, friends, vital business contacts in the cult – these ARE the reasons that people don’t leave, yet many here grappled with these issues and left, anyway. Does that mean that the Still Ins love their kids more than those who left?
I think not. I’d rather have the love of parents who have the courage and dignity and self respect to think for themselves, if I were a child. In fact I did have that!
I’d choose that over the love of these cowardly, craven, still in mini criminals who refuse to turn their heads and LOOK at what’s right in front of them and all around them.
How can anyone respect people like that?
Pam and Ed, please invest your limited funds in your health, your quality of life, and your family. You’ve done your share. I hate to think about what you’ve sacrificed already.
Yo Dave,
Hey good buddy ……….. round three coming up this season. How is the towel supply in yer corner? May I suggest more towels and you may also want some liquid cauterizing agents handy to stop the bleeding.
Yes Dave, the bleeding will continue from yer already empty mORGues. Fewer and fewer active and ‘in good standing’ blokes around to put the squeeze on.
As for the cauterizing ointment …….. whatareyagonnado Dave? I have noticed that You are having a lot more difficulty in putting the hammer down on those You suspect of being disaffected or are just simply saying “yes, I’ll get back on course as soon as I find a job” but doing nothing in your fake cherch.
Not to worry Dave, it will get worse. To change it You would have to be nice Dave. What are the chances? Show your humanitarian side (not sure where that is) and bring Shelly on stage and give her a kiss Dave. Show us yer charisma Dave.
BTW Dave,
I just heard from a very reliable source that You have canceled the Are Pee Eff. That is a step in the right direction Dave. Keep on keepin on!
Davy, here’s another idea. Announce that LRH has returned and you are stepping down. Bet that would bring tons of people in (and maybe even back).
Actually Glenn there is a guy claiming to be the returned LRH. He even changed his name to Lafayette Ron Hubbard. He’s 30 something and says he’s LRH and returned. I am not buying into it. But I could be wrong.
Complete scam. You are not wrong.
Thank you, Mike. When I read Tony O’s blog about him after I posted that above, the part that stood out to me was that he claims to “have no time track at all.” Yet LRH says we have all lived lives before, including himself (witness “Mission Into Time” book). So with this new guy saying he has no time track, that alone tells me he is not LRH returned because LRH did believe in reincarnation or the fact that we’ve lived before, including himself. Plus there are other giveaways too numerous to mention here.
Cancelled the RPF, huh? Encouraging news. A two- pronged effort, sounds like. First, stop the hemorrhaging and second, recruit desperately needed fresh Sea Org meat by assuring the teenaged cult snowflakes that RPF is all Fake News! Hey COB – desperate much?
COB is so fucked. His back pedaling only shows how cowardly he is. You can’t put the genie back in the bottle L’il Dave.
The whole world knows what a sick fuck you are.
Regarding the cancelling of the RPF, on Chris Shelton’s YouTube channel, he and Aaron Smith Levon have an excellent discussion on this subject and a few other “improvements” being initiated for Sea Org slaves. Don’t remember the date it was done, but within the last few weeks. Very good, informative discussion-worth checking out.
Yes, this is very sad indeed.
Interesting they expect to shake the hand of the tyrant; they ‘need recognition’ which denotes, possibly, low esteem.
We do acknowledge that they did it for love, their purpose was what we can describe as a sane one and that may be the reason of their blindness. They see things with love and missed the obvious.
From what I have gathered, CoS seems to prey on and encourage and fuel low self esteem…it’s like staying in an abusive relationship….the abuser reinforces the victims lack of worth by continuing to tell them they aren’t good enough or doing enough. Blaming them when things aren’t going right. Probably a lot of that happening right now with everything that is going oh so wrong. I just can’t reconcile in my own mind, how this org continues to get away with it. And yes, someone said it’s a huge real estate scheme….it IS and when the whole thing collapses,. they (DM?) will still have probably a billion dollars in real estate assets. Actually sickeningly brilliant.
Almost worse yet, it appears that a lot of the money raised at personal sacrifice if not terrible cost, is being wasted and lost, even at the local org level such as in Boston. From what I can tell, Boston’s attempt buy a historic building to renovate, that they are now backing out of in favor of an aging modern commercial office building that at least needs less extensive work, is going to result in a significant net loss, even in Boston’s booming real estate market, since they let the property deteriorate so badly in the decade that they sat on it.
The language about a “god-given thing to do for man” is also quite strange.
> The language about a “god-given thing to do for man” is also quite strange.
I noticed that too. They must not have progressed very far up the bridge, because according to scientology, “god” is just another implant. Maybe it’s just a turn of phrase that didn’t get edited out?
Mike, good article. I’ve seen so many cases like this in Los Angeles. Very sad.
Their facial expressions . . . hmmm. Is that the post-handshake look? “We gave until it hurts and all we got was this lousy t-shirt- I mean- handshake.”
For only $100,000 I can shake COB’s hand? Count me in.
Be careful …….. It will cost you more than that to get it back!
Way more.
If for $200,000 one gets to hit him up side the head with a 2X4 I’m in!
Do I get to swing the 2 x 4!
Only if you pay up big time.
Unfortunately, Wynski, the privilege of hitting the Dwarfenfuhrer with a 2×4 is limited to those who cough up US$1,000,000.00.
🙂 All of you.
Why would you want to?
Better to let the little faggot stew in his juices a little longer.
The little what? Is homophobia ok here? Just checkin.
Rachel, who said they were afraid of homosexuals?
I did not say that someone is afraid of gay people. I am surprised and saddened by the anti gay slur being used, especially because Sci has been so anti gay.
Rachel, now you are off the rails. PHOBIA means fear of.
HENCE homophobia means FEAR of HOMOSEXUALS.
Jeez, you REALLY don’t know what phobia means?
I’m babbling? While certainly phobia means fear of, “homophobia,” in common cultural usage means anti-gay sentiment. Most gay people find the slur used above to be hurtful. I haven’t seen other slurs based on race or sexuality here, and I am surprised to see it now. Since people who are trying to leave Scientology may read this site, it would certainly make a gay person think that this site is unfriendly to gays and unsafe for them.
WRONG. It means fear of homosexuals. Learn English if you are going to be politically correct all over an Elglish language blog.
She is not wrong. And I apologize for allowing this slur through.
According to Wiki: Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who are identified or perceived as being lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT). It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, hatred or antipathy, may be based on irrational fear, and is often related to religious beliefs.
Homophobia is observable in critical and hostile behavior such as discrimination and violence on the basis of sexual orientations that are non-heterosexual.
Oxford English: homophobia NOUN: Dislike of or prejudice against homosexual people.
Merriam-Webster: homophobia noun: irrational fear of, aversion to, or discrimination against homosexuality or homosexuals
Rachel, no worries. Any Sea Org people or still ins on staff, or public lurking here won’t be turned off by one of us calling David Miscavige a faggot as a pejorative term.
If any UTRs are lurking here they’re privately calling Miscavige a LOT worse.
And FYI, Sea Org people are not PERMITTED to be gay.
They’re sec checked out the kazoo about ALL their prior sexual activity, every last exscrutiating detail including THOUGHTS and “wanting to”” BEFORE being approved for the Sea Org!
Their PR to the contrary, the Church of Scientology is EXTREMELY anti -gay.
Really, Wynski? Objecting to a bigoted slur is too PC for you? Then, you go on the attack by insinuating the objector doesn’t know English because she is using the generally accepted idea of homophobia rather than your persnickety literal definition? Why must you always be such a miserable ****?
Wrong again moron (dwarmed). Nice attempt at a straw-man attack though. I object to people making up definitions in order to accuse people of something. Only an idiot like yourself would defend such actions.
You didn’t answer the question, though. Why must you always be such a miserable **** and resort to personal insults every time someone has different view than you? Do you consider that intelligent? It’s not.
Thank you Rachel.
Yes, how sad this story is. And the people they thank at the end of their letter are likely those people who put the most pressure on them to extort money from them.
Of course there has been no visible sign of progress on the building purchased to turn into their Boston Idle Org. This building is easily visible from the Mass. Turnpike. Anyone with half a brain on staff at their temporary org in Quincy, Mass., would think to put up a big “Scientology” sign on the side of that building that faces the Pike. I’m glad they haven’t though.
Apparently the Boston org is waiting to actually sell the first building that they bought in 2008 to try to turn into an “ideal” org building, the Hotel Alexandra. There were reports in the media that they had a preliminary or conditional deal last fall, that was supposed to close this year, but I have yet to see any sign of that happening. My guess is that even if they can finalize a deal, that they won’t get as much as they are hoping for and planning on, and may still be short on money to renovate the building off the Turnpike in Alton, but by that point they may get put on the list of orgs to get bailed out so that Miscavige can keep up the illusion of “expansion” with ribbon-yankings.
Oh, and Scientology apparently sold their beautiful, longstanding building on Beacon Hill for less than it was listed for, when the real estate market was bad, after probably overpaying for the Alexandra property at the height of the market, so it has been a mess of financial mis-steps all along – and all at the cost of members who were hit up to scrape up every last dime they could come up with, including money they couldn’t really afford. If it was like what was reported about the St. Louis org, where they are abandoning a building they had bought to turn into an “ideal” org, and apparently are just going to try to renovate their existing building, members may have gone bankrupt or even lost their own homes.
Yeah, for a real estate empire they are pretty shitty at real estate.
But that’s to be expected when the real reason for this is they have TOO MUCH MONEY and don’t know what to do with it, while being obsessed with getting more…
Mike, I like the abbreviation for the Deputy Flag Banking Officer In Charge Of Management Of Org Resources For Exchange:
DFBO MORE.
Kinda says a lot, doesn’t it?
The point is: it wasn’t their money to begin with. The real crime is Miscavige squandering donations. Those donations are tax deductible and the IRS refuses to take notice. Davey gets a pass for his fiduciary irresponsibility to the donors. It’s not ethical. It’s not moral. It’s not ok.
Looking at a number of the deals recently, I’m amazed at the ineptitude, and waste. On the on hand Scientology shakes members down as if the world will end if they don’t get every last dollar to be had, and on the other hand they let a lot of that money essentially slip through their fingers once they have it. Besides some of the obvious losses from deals they’ve had to back out of, orgs have ended up burdened for years if not a decade or more with the carrying costs of empty buildings, sapping their finances and disaffecting their members.
But we’re lucky that they’re not more competent, or they’d be more of a menace.
At the international level, besides similar building debacles, I suspect there are significant ongoing losses of net asset value if Scientology is keeping reserves in cash equivalents that don’t maintain value against inflation. That’s a fairly minor and subtle effect now, if it’s going on, though they would be losing enormous opportunities in the long run compared to better investments. But most obviously and egregiously, Hubbard kept pallets of cash in vaults in European banking havens during the high-inflation era of the 1970s, when that money was having its effective value eroded by about 10% per year, with the couriers bringing suitcases full of new cash – once again, probably often extracted from people at high cost to their personal interests and future prospects – probably serving to do little more than tread water financially and keep the relative value of the hoards about the same.
This all points to one reason why I think that large and wealthy religious institutions should be required to have outside financial audits, to ensure that members’ and donors’ money – and the tax-exempt advantages granted by the government at the cost of the general public – aren’t squandered due to fraud, waste or abuse.
This all points to one reason why I think that large and wealthy religious institutions should be required to have outside financial audits, to ensure that members’ and donors’ money – and the tax-exempt advantages granted by the government at the cost of the general public – aren’t squandered due to fraud, waste or abuse.
100% agreed.
AND some form of public benefit test before given exempt status like they have in the UK. Prove to us that you actually provide benefit to the public at large that the government would otherwise have to provide. That is the underlying reason for tax exempt status. If you cannot demonstrate this, and only that you provide benefit to your “members” then you may certainly operate, but you are not going to be subsidized by the government to do so.
Mike, I completely agree about public benefit tests – and perhaps some other requirements as well – but given the current US political environment, and a trend towards decreasing regulation of religious non-profits, if anything, it seems to me that a common-sense measure requiring outside checks and balances against squandering and diversion of funds, is an ambitious proposal as it is.
Yes, Peacemaker, point taken, but there is hope. The Religious Reich won’t have the American people by the cajones for much longer. Mid-terms are coming. Spilled toxic waste can’t be cleaned up but it can be contained.
Aqua, even if the political balance shifts away from the extreme, I still don’t think that there will be enough popular support and political will for more oversight of religious non-profits, until there is either some awful scandal that demands action, or a real generational change.
That’s why I think it is important to focus on the simplest and most pragmatic ways to address obvious abuses, and particularly the most concrete of those such as financial ones.
Also, when it comes to something like requiring proper financial accountability, the major religious denominations that already do such voluntarily as a matter of responsibility to their congregants, should be allies in making such standards mandatory.
PM, I wish I could disagree with anything you’ve just said but I cannot.
I agree that the political will to oversee non profits is not there, even with extreme far left liberals (of which I am not, btw just saying).
I think the truth just getting out there continually, whether in a continual drip feed, or via periodic blasts of shocking information or both, will increase the likelihood of an awful scandal having huge legs in the media taking hold and waking people up and making them clamor for accountability, and with that, generational change, as you’ve termed it, can begin, and become part of what we as a nation care about a great deal.
The irony is the generation that chanted, “question authority” turned out to be the one that was most easily entrapped because they REFUSED to question authority.
At least they were a generation of awesome & creative musicians…
“At least they were a generation of awesome & creative musicians.”
How very true.
True. They resisted it so much they ended up being what they were protesting.. Amazing.
So am I missing something, or is the alleged “make-break” point not really make-break, considering the present time situation?
There is no ‘make’ point for the cult these days. It’s either all hands managing the ‘break’ or into the abyss for the whole shiteree.
I say good riddance!
Well gorillavee, it IS if it maintains forever. You see that point is where START getting paid something like minimum wage.