The latest edition of Impact magazine, the propaganda and fundraising rag of the IAS is devoted almost exclusively to the "Volunteer Ministers" and the "massive" international relief efforts they engage in "thanks to the IAS." Of course, those who are not blinded by KoolAid know this is a scam, that virtually NO money is spent on any of these things, and in fact the "relief efforts" are miniscule. Always just enough to get a photo or video or a person or two, and then everyone loses interest and moves onto the next fundraising effort. Nobody hears anything about the Philippines or Vanatau a … [Read more...]
Disaster Capitalism – Spelled I.A.S.
Look up disaster capitalism in the dictionary and you will find an IAS logo and nothing else. More IAS lying about the "largest private relief force on earth." Funny how they can report down to the exact number how many people attended a ribbon cutting "2,763 gushing fools cheered as the ribbon was yanked" and 13,859 inches of wire was run to connect the covert video cameras in the auditing rooms in the new "ideal org" of Lower Slovobia and "a new person clicks on one of our internet sites every 6.47836 seconds" -- but when it comes to reporting on "what you donations buy" with the IAS … [Read more...]
Volunteer Ministers Hype
This is the text of the full page USA Today ad that appeared last Thursday. Back in the good old days, USA Today required DETAILED proof of the claims made in church ads. Today, pretty much anything goes.... A global movement more than 200,000 strong. Active in better than 120 nations. Based on the rest of the scientology demographics, more than half of the total activities occur in the United States. So, ballparking it means there are more than 100,000 VMs in the US. So, where were they when the massive tornadoes rolled through Oklahoma? They tried to … [Read more...]
A Nice Change For A Change
A Special Correspondent just sent this to me. I found it interesting and somewhat heartening. If you read the message you will see that it does not come from the IAS Vultures but is asking for money to go directly to the OTL Central Europe to buy water, canned food, diapers and rubber boots. No pitch about distributing soggy copies of WTH or "we are going to train everyone on how to do nerve assists". If someone gives money for this, it might actually be spent on something useful. About time someone at least made an effort to appear to be doing the right thing. Good for OTL CEE. … [Read more...]
No News Is OId News
The big, new news on the Volunteer Minister front, worthy of a paid press release on Christmas Eve, is NOT the activities of the VMs in the Philippines, nor even their feeble presence at the Oklahoma City tornados earlier this year. Nope, its "news" from 2004 -- 9 YEARS AGO. This is the headline from the 24 December PR Press Release under the byline "Karin Pouw." Scientology Volunteer Ministers Provide Help in Desperate Times New Scientology brochure tells how 600 Scientology Volunteer Ministers who responded to the 2004 tsunami changed the course of the movement I will not bore … [Read more...]
What Your IAS Donations Buy — Invisible VMs
It would appear that my posting 4 days ago about the failure of the church to update the information about their massive VM relief force in the Philippines caused a stir in the bowels of the beast. Today the church put out a press release to announce to the world the enormity of their actions (all funded of course by an emergency IAS grant). The photo that accompanied the story is at left. It shows a grand total of SIX VMs, apparently there is some mission in Manila who "activated their Volunteer Ministers" and they were joined by someone(s) from the India "Goodwill Tour." The "story" is … [Read more...]
What’s Wrong With Scientology.org?
The masters of the internet and cutting edge technology (see Warehouse VIII and the state-of-the-art paper printing plant) seem to have a rough time keeping their website relevant. Let alone problems with credibility. They finally just put up an announcement about the opening of the Ideal Org in Kaohsuing. Though it might be best to just leave the Ideal Org thing to die an unlamented death. This is the 4th "Ideal Org" this year -- though the first since the first clear city of Portland in May, preceded by the bust in Pretoria and the non-event in Cambridge Ontario. This is a big thumbs … [Read more...]
What Your IAS Donations Buy — Update on VMs in Philippines
There is no update. It's what is known as a "No Report." Let's not forget, this is one of the largest, most devastating natural disasters in a long time. And Captain Miscavige has proudly announced on numerous occasions that His Volunteer Minister force is the single largest and most effective private relief force on earth. And of course with all that massive, straight up and vertical international expansion that has been happening, more in the last 5 years than in the 50 decades previously, this force should be incredibly enormously humongous by now. They should be literally flooding into … [Read more...]
Philippines Update — Donate NOW. But Don’t Tell Razzline
The latest pitch from the IAS on their website. Disaster capitalism at its most grotesque. As is typical, they repeat the details of the disaster to make sure everyone knows how bad the situation is. Then comes the pitch. Of course, THIS is what the VM's are for, so we have made an "emergency grant" to fly in a "team" (unspecified number, certainly less than 10). Not to bring needed supplies but to "train" a large team of VMs to "help the scores of traumatized people with assists and VM tech, help with food distribution, removing debris from streets and cleaning up houses." I doubt … [Read more...]
A Timeless Moment in Wholetrack History. Huh?
Facebook Police Chief and ex-SO, Jojo Zawawi reveals some interesting facts in her latest posting on the Facebook "Scientologists" group. Apparently her effort is to "D/A" the spoof email that was sent out by thetaburst informing one and all that the dates of the events may change. But she also reveals some other interesting news: There will be no showings at Missions. There will be no repeat showings and no DVD's made. But gosh, if this is so damned important, why not let everyone see it? And why no "repeat showings" (don't count on it) and no DVD's available. Simple answer: when Ma … [Read more...]