1. Do not condemn people on the basis of their ethnicity or their color.

2. Do not ever even think of using people as private property or as owned or as slaves.

3. Despise those who use violence or the threat of it in sexual relations.

4. Hide your face and weep if you dare to harm a child.

5. Do not condemn people for their inborn nature—why would God create so many homosexuals only in order to torture and destroy them?

6. Be aware that you too are an animal and dependent on the web of nature, and think and act accordingly.

7. Do not imagine that you can escape judgment if you rob people with a false prospectus rather than with a knife.

8. Turn off that fucking cell phone—you have no idea how unimportant your call is to us.

9. Denounce all jihadists and crusaders for what they are: psychopathic criminals with ugly delusions and terrible sexual repressions.

10. Be willing to renounce any god or any faith if any holy commandments should contradict any of the above.

In short: Do not swallow your moral code in tablet form.

I’m sure you have heard of this story by now but since new information has popped up I thought it would be good to go over it again for the class.

Davis Davis is the principle at a high school in Ponce De Leon, Florida. Heather Gillman was a student that went to him for help. Heather was being harassed by other students for being a lesbian and thought Davis could help her. Instead he went on what can only be described as a witch hunt, outing her to her parents, ordering her to stay away from children and suspending any of her friends that showed any support for her.
According to U.S. District Judge Richard Smoak “He went so far as to lift the shirts of female students to insure the letters ‘GP’ or the words ‘Gay Pride’ were not written on their bodies.”
What the fuck?
With the backing of the ACLU Gillman sued the school and won. Davis has since lost his gig as principle at the school but he remains a teacher there. What really caught my attention about this case was the response from the school board’s lawyer when asked if there was a policy against wearing clothing that supported gay rights in the school district.

As has clearly been shown at Ponce de Leon School in September of this year, the types of clothing and symbols your clients seek to wear to school will likely be disruptive and interfere with the educational process. Also, said symbols were used and can further be used by select students to show participation in an illegal organization as defined by the School Board

Again, what the fuck? An illegal organization?

During the trial Davis had to take the stand and some of his quotes will no doubt amuse you:

The principal went on to admit that while censoring rainbows and gay pride messages he allowed students to wear other symbols many find controversial, such as the Confederate flag.

Davis also testified that he believed rainbows were “sexually suggestive” and would make students unable to study because they’d be picturing gay sex acts in their mind.

Seriously, what the fuck is wrong with this guy?

Now that the quick review is over let us jump forward to the more recent news.
This is the headline on Yahoo: Fla. town backs ex-principal in gay student case.

“We are a small, rural district in the Bible Belt with strong Christian beliefs and feel like homosexuality is wrong,” said Steve Griffin, Holmes County’s school superintendent, who keeps a Bible on his desk and framed Scriptures on his office walls.

I have no idea how there are still parts of the world that act like this, let alone in my own country.

No, I’m not bashing here.

Because I am a fag, and proud of it.

Don’t worry, guys, I still like the ladies, but I’m going to proudly call myself a fag.

Why, you ask? Because I am, and so is anyone else who opposes Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church. According to the Phelps clan, that is. It has nothing to do with homosexuality any longer. In Phelps’ eyes, a ‘fag’ is anyone not a member of his congregation.

This past weekend Topeka, Kansas was the scene of the first annual Million Fag March, a peaceful protest against Phelps and his cronies. The motto of the protest is that freedom of speech works both ways. Fred Phelps may have the right to picket when and where he pleases, and so do the rest of us.

While I believe a peaceful protest against the WBC is a valiant and wonderful idea, I have to question whether or not it will serve the purpose intended. While Fred Phelps and his family are nothing but an array of vile creatures, this protest may give them attention that they do not deserve.

I’ve always been a proponent of ignoring the WBC and its idiocy. The more attention given to them, the more of the spotlight they monopolize. What they want is media attention, and anything done to attract that attention is welcomed by them. Even protests against them. Especially protests against them.

Fred Phelps is an old man who’s probably going to be dead sooner than later. Depending on whatever religion you follow, he’s either going to burn in Hell or come back as a retarded squirrel. Or just not exist, if you don’t believe in an afterlife.

Once he’s gone, that Church is not going to have the momentum to go on like it has been. I don’t think his daughter, Shirley, will be able to garner the same following as he has and the ‘movement’ will die.

Let nature take its course.

Being diabetic, I’ve got to say, I’d like to know what Dale and Leilani Neumann know that I don’t. Maybe they’re on to something? Maybe I can stop taking twenty goddamn pills a day? Maybe I can eat cake?

Oh, wait:

“Everest Metro Police Chief Dan Vergin says Madeline Neumann died Sunday, and an autopsy determined the cause was diabetic ketoacidosis, which left her with too little insulin in her body. The chief says she had probably been ill for about 30 days, suffering symptoms like nausea, vomiting, excessive thirst, loss of appetite and weakness.”

Here’s the story if you’re so inclined

According to the Associated Press, these fuckwits kept praying right up until 11 year old Madeline stopped breathing.

I can take religious people and their beliefs. Really, some of my best friends and closest family members believe in some Imaginary Man in the Sky. Great– that’s fine. If faith gives you comfort, I’m all for it. Personally, I find my comfort in my belief in myself, my love for my family, perhaps (just perhaps) some harebrained Zen mumbo-jumbo, and occasionally at the bottom of a bottle of Jameson’s Irish Whiskey, but that’s just me.

I gotta tell ya, though, when you start thinking your Imaginary Man in the Sky is going to cure your kid of an incurable fucking disease, so much so that your way to deal with watching her suffer and grow increasingly ill is to just get more people to HELP you pray (because, clearly, your Imaginary Man in the Sky must be deaf or something if he can’t just hear you), you’ve clearly missed the boat somewhere.

However irrational I may think faith is, I’ll never knock anyone’s belief so long as, (A), they aren’t trying to shove it down my fucking throat, and (B), they aren’t using it as an excuse to harm someone else. Which, unfortunately, is usually the problem with most religious extremists (and even not-so-extremists).

The Neumann’s have two other girls, 13 and 16, which, thankfully, since the above story was written, the authorities have taken away from them. Which, considering the fact that diabetes tends to be, oh, I don’t know, fucking genetic, is probably for the best.

If anyone needs me, I’ll be sitting in a dark corner, by myself, rocking and mumbling incoherently. I’m gonna see if I can get rid of this stupid diabetes by chanting.

I read a few news stories earlier today about a group of Buddhist monks in Thailand who were using the internet social networking site Hi5 to lure women back to the monastery for sex.  Some reports said they were raping these women, other reports say it was consensual so I’m not going to draw any conclusions about that.

I am going to predict, however, that these monks are going to be representative of the whole religion in the eyes of the unforgiving public.  It seems like a trend nowadays that if someone who holds religious office does something immoral, the entire religion is blamed for it.

Take the Catholics, for example.  The whole Catholic priest pedophilia scandal rocked the world when it was brought to light.  Ever since the first allegations of this came out, the entire Catholic faith was put under a microscope and every single Catholic priest was under suspicion.  I was raised Catholic, spent some time as an altar boy, went to a Catholic University and I can tell you first hand that I never witnessed any sort of misbehavior by a priest.  I was never molested, nor did I hear of any other child I knew being molested by a Catholic priest.

In college I spent a lot of time with the Franciscan order of Friars.  These were some of the most decent, moral men I had ever known and have known to this day.   Never did I see one act innapropriately toward anyone else.

This same type of stereotyping is going to happen with the Buddhists now that this incident has come to national attention.  Since the media likes to sensationalize everything, this is going to become a major scandal and the Buddhists are going to be treated as unfairly as the Catholics.

The reason it’s unfair is because members of any religious order who commit acts of immorality are singled out.  There are a lot of sexual predators on this planet, but they’re not stereotyped like Catholic priests are because they come from all walks of life.  There are literally thousands of registered sex offenders in the United States alone, and only a handful of those belong to any religious order.  It can be safe to say that there are more sex offenders that belong to a particular race (whether that be Irish, Black, Hispanic, Polish, or whatever ; I’m not singling out an entire ethnicity because I’m arguing against stereotyping here) than there are Catholic priests who commit these offenses.  There are probably more lay Catholic sex offenders than there are offenders in the clergy.  But that doesn’t make national headlines because it’s not sensational enough.

I was going to write a blog about this, but I found an excellent post regarding the death of Shawn Lonsdale on another site.  I’m posting the link and the contents.

 http://dreamsendweb.com/2008/02/19/suspicious-death-of-scientology-critic-shawn-lonsdale/

The following was taken from the blog “Dream’s End” which can be found by clicking on the above link.

For a brief time, Shawn Lonsdale, 39, was a fixture outside Scientology’s infamous Fort Harrison Hotel in Clearwater, Florida (the hotel in which Lisa McPherson died under the “care” of Scientologists). He was filming what he called a pseudo-documentary and stood for hours at a time gathering footage. He also posted frequently on various anti-Scientology discussion forums and was a well known activist.

He endured death threats and smear campaigns. He worked for a brief time in his younger days as a male prostitute, and flyers with this information were posted all over town. He was undeterred by these tactics. You can read more about him here. You can also see Lonsdale featured in a BBC documentary about Scientology, including a scene in which uberhandler Tommy Davis rushes onto the scene to make sure that reporter John Sweeney knows about Lonsdale’s minor criminal convictions. The link takes you to a compilation video of what Sweeney endured in filming his documentary. Lonsdale’s bit starts at around 2:45.)

And now, one week after the most widespread anti-Scientology action in history, he is dead from what police are calling an “apparent suicide.”

The circumstances of his death are strange by themselves. He was found dead in his home with a hose leading from his car’s exhaust pipe into his house. Why he didn’t simply stay in the car is the first question everyone asked. It seems to be a suicide plan with a high probability of failure. The entire house would have to fill with CO2 before the car ran out of gas or someone noticed the odd details.

According to the Times report, Lonsdale had backed off of his anti-Scientology activities, or at least the public ones. Perhaps he was editing his hours and hours of footage, or perhaps he simply pulled back from the stress of the battle with the “fair-gaming” Church. He’d found a job and was thinking about going back to school to get a private investigator’s license.

But the timing is quite strange. On Feb. 10 the single largest, worldwide Scientology protest action was held and the momentum shown by the “anonymous” movement against Scientology showed no signs of slowing. Why would he pick the days following the sort of victory he’d been working so hard for to take his own life?

Unfortunately, it’s likely that the Clearwater Police may not be the most objective in handling this investigation. Please see this excellent Mark Bunker documentary about the incredible amount of influence Scientology has gained over Clearwater and with the Clearwater Police Department.

(Correction. In a previous version of this article I pointed to some online evidence that the Clearwater police spokesperson, Elizabeth Daly-Watts was involved in Scientology and married to a high level Scientologist. This was an error. There was an Elizabeth Daly who did some Scientology courses in 1994. Ms. Daly-Watts is married to Sgt. Carl Watts of the Clearwater Police Department. There is also a Carl Watts who took some high level Scientology classes and was declared a “clear” back in 1978. This is not the same person to whom Elizabeth Daly-Watts is married. I regret the error and apologize to Ms. Daly-Watts for posting the assertion. If you see older versions of this article reprinted anywhere without this correction, please pass this information along. )

Are we being unfair? Would Scientology ever deliberately murder or at least attempt to drive someone to suicide? Unfortunately, the answer to that question is a definitive yes. As part of their fair game policy, for example (which the Church now claims is no longer in effect), investigative reporter Paulette Cooper was harassed with the intention of inducing suicide.

The most bizarre documents (recovered in FBI raids on Scientology offices) referred to “Operation Freakout.” Its goal, they wrote, was to “get P.C., [me] incarcerated in a mental institution or jail or at least to hit her so hard that she drops her attacks.” It appeared that after the first frameup had failed to silence me or land me in prison, they plotted again to make it look like I was making bomb threats against Scientology and others. Sounding eerily like the ‘72 letters, these new missives were going to go out to Scientology, to Henry Kissinger, to Arab embassies (because I’m Jewish) and also to a Laundromat! Go figure.

Other pages in the documents also brought back unhappy memories. There was a strange diary of what I did each day during the “frame-up” period, and how close I was to suicide. “Wouldn’t that be great for Scientology?” the person wrote. And then I realized the writer could only have been Jerry Levin. He had to have been a Scientologist, someone who infiltrated my life specifically to spy on me and help Scientology set me up.

And it’s worth at least mentioning the L. Ron Hubbard’s own son, thought to be gay (Scientologists don’t like gays much) and otherwise embarrassing his father, allegedly committed suicide in 1976 in a similar manner. Quentin Hubbard was found dead in a car in the desert with a hose leading from the tailpipe to nearby the car. The police assumed it had fallen out of the window after Hubbard died from carbon monoxide poisoning. But I hope the medical examiner does a thorough job on Lonsdale’s body because it turned out that there was NO carbon monoxide in Hubbard’s body, though there were needle marks on both arms. You can read the coroner’s report here as well as an account of the story fro someone who was inside Scientology at the time.

The story gets even stranger. That is to say, the way the story first surfaced on the internet is very strange. Reminiscent of the Theresa Duncan death, the story first emerged on an internet discussion forum. The oddity about this that no one knows who made the original post nor how this person came to know of Lonsdale’s death before the police announced it or the media covered it. The poster claimed to be part of “anonymous” though made several gaffe’s which suggested to longterm anons that he or she had simply adopted the lingo. Here’s the original post:

The orginal post 36 hours ago:
anonny…@yahoo.com
View profile
Just received word from a reliable source that he heard from a reliable source that Shawn Lonsdale is dead of apparent suicide. Anyone can confirm?
More options Feb 17, 12:28 am
Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology
From: anonny…@yahoo.com
Date: Sat, 16 Feb 2008 21:28:37 -0800 (PST)
Local: Sun, Feb 17 2008 12:28 am
Subject: Shawn Lonsdale suicide?
Reply | Reply to author | Forward | Print | Individual message | Show original | Report this message | Find messages by this author
Just received word from a reliable source that he heard from a
reliable source that Shawn Lonsdale is dead of apparent suicide.
Anyone can confirm?

This post was about 12 hours after the police found the body. So while it is not proof that the poster had anything to do with the crime, no one can figure out how this person, if not someone associated with the police or Scientology, could have known this before anyone else.

One more odd point which is probably just a coincidence but worth keeping an eye on. It’s another post on alt.religion.scientology, but the poster had a bit more of a history of posting the sort of things you’d expect.

It’s 8:24 AM in my part of the world (the posting time is listed as 3:24 pm on Feb. 15).
Within 12 hours there will be felt a huge disturbance in the Force.

After more than 50 years, we’re now on the homestretch.

Rejoice.

Anonymous

The next day Lonsdale was found dead, though he could have been dead for some time.

Suicides happen. And they happen around Scientology a lot, though often it’s just folks who realized they spent their life savings for a scam. But what is known in this case is enough to convict the Church in the court of public opinion if nothing else. Lonsdale…a single guy with a video camera and no operating budget to speak of, was harassed, threatened and defamed in a coordinated campaign to destroy a critic of the Church. They say they don’t “fair game” anyone anymore. All that tells me is that they changed the terminology.

Follow the latest developments at the Enturbulation forum. They’ve done all the research here and I’ve simply compiled some of it here to help keep the pressure going for a real investigation.Also, due to the nature of this topic and the litigious nature of the Church, I print this article with no copyright protection of any kind. You can reprint it all or in part, with or without attribution and with or without linking back to this page. So, feel free to make copies and if this site bites the dust for some reason, just slap it back up somewhere. This right is strictly reserved, however, for individuals, entities and organizations which are not affiliated with the Church of Scientology.

Back in 2003, Chuck and I paid a visit to the new Church of Scientology building in Buffalo. It was their grand-opening Gala, and for some reason they invited us. We were at the time, freelance writers working mostly for the Buffalo Beast, and independent newspaper circulating in the city. A lot of talk of Scientology has happened recently, what with Tom Cruise showing his true colors to the world and Katie Holmes turning into a robot, as seen in a recent guest appearance on ‘Regis and Kelly.’ There’s also a new unauthorized biography of Cruise that states that his and Holmes’ daughter, Suri, is the spawn of bad Sci-Fi writer L. Ron Hubbard himself. The author of the book goes so far to compare her birth to ”Rosemary’s Baby.”

With this newfound fascination with Scientology, I’ve decided to re-open my interest in this goofy religion. Following is the article Chuck and I wrote, which appeared originally in The Buffalo Beast. This time, though – the punctuation is there and a spell check has been run so it’ll be a much better read:

The Beast Goes Scientological
By Rob Gerke and Chuck Notaro

It’s been said that there are two sides to every story. I’ve found this to be true in almost everything I’ve experienced or thought about. The case of Scientology is no different. It has its supporters and its detractors. I, myself, have never given much credibility to a religion that was founded by a science fiction writer. I’m not even much of a Sci-Fi reader any longer. But I’ve never been one to openly express an opinion about something unless its an informed one, which is the reason I paid a visit to Buffalo’s new Church of Scientology this past Sunday when it celebrated its grand opening.

I’ll admit, I knew next to nothing about Scientology before I attended the opening ceremony, and honestly, I’m not sure it’s any clearer to me now.
Let’s start with the basic question: What is Scientology? In founder Lafayette Ron Hubbard’s words, Scientology is an “applied religious philosophy.” Does that clear things up for you? If not, Hubbard goes on to say that it is the “study and handling of the spirit in relationship to itself, universes and other life.”
Scientologists believe it to be a path to enlightenment gained through auditing. This is where an upper-level Scientologist evaluates you, and through certain scientific method, helps you gain control of your true self. Your inner spirit. Your “Thetan,” as the Scientologists call it.

In the Beginning, There was Xenu
The anti-Scientologists believe that the Scientologists are stark-raving mad. They put the Thetan into terms of what sounds like a bad sci-fi story. The story of Xenu: the punch line of a very long and expensive joke.

If you paid a visit to www.clambake.org you’ll find excerpts from this story which they claim was leaked by ex-high ranking members of the Church. These excerpts are accompanied by what they claim is a handwritten note by Hubbard himself that actually seems to be an outline, or a footnote to a sci-fi story. You have to remember that L. Ron Hubbard was a fiction writer, and a large body of his work had nothing to do with Scientology or the study of Dianetics. They even go so far as to say that the Thetan isn’t a person’s spirit at all, but an alien presence that has invaded our bodies after Xenu, the so-called Evil Galactic Overlord ™, initiated a galactic holocaust which caused these alien beings to need a host.

But, the Scientologists aren’t talking about this at all. This seems strange because they have a clever PR department. They seem well prepared to answer all the basic questions, but once you start probing a little beneath the surface, they basically side-step the questions. It is reminiscent a trailer to a big budget film. They perk up your interest, so you go in to buy the books to see what this is actually all about. But, apparently even purchasing and reading the books doesn’t answer these questions for you. It appears that in order to find out exactly what the tenets of this religion are, you have to advance through the ranks. Similar to playing World of Warcraft: new levels bring new abilities. (I wonder what level they are when they learn how to cast Magic Missile.)

They have no explanation for Xenu, whom Scientology detractors claim is at the core of this religion. And we question the sanity of the Anti-Scientologists, because they seem just as cult like, sometimes even more so, than the ones they are attacking.

They seemed to keep trying to draw our attention to Narconon, their drug rehabilitation program that’s apparently very big in Sweden. But, take a look at the word: NARCONON. Look like anything you’re familiar with? Could it be they’re trying to draw us to them in our drug induced haze while we’re searching for NARCANON, the non-religious group?

The Arrival
Back to the beginning. When I arrived at the ceremonial grounds on Main Street just past Allen, I saw that this was going to be a lot bigger than I initially expected. Red carpets everywhere. It reminded me of the Oscars. Oh, wait! Aren’t there a ton of celebrities involved with Scientology? Mr. Katie Holmes and Danny from ‘Grease’ come to mind. I immediately started looking around like I was in downtown Hollywood, trying to get a glimpse of Jason Lee. Or Kirstie Alley. Or that guy who plays ‘Hyde’ on “That 70’s Show.’Or even Chef from ‘South Park.’ And then I saw her. Dharma herself: Jenna Elfman, sitting in the front row as the ceremony began. Right alongside famed Buffalo rocker Billy Sheehan.

Celebrity endorsement seems to be a big selling point for Scientology. Even in their orientation film (aptly titled ‘Orientation’) they use familiar faces such as John Travolta and Chef to get their message out.

The whole thing started with an introduction by the Buffalo Scientology President . She did the expected by playing the gracious host and thanking everyone for being there and sucking up to the local politicians and the City of Buffalo in general. Then she introduced someone I had never heard of, but who got an intense, and somewhat frightening reaction from the crowd.

Than man was David Miscavige, the head of Scientology’s Religious Technology Center. Supposedly this center is set up to protect the doctrine and technology of the Church itself. I’ll say one thing for the man, he has charisma. It was a surreal experience watching him and listening to him speak. He talked about a lot of things that I’d find it difficult to argue with, such as the atrocity of war and violence and the need for peace and kindness in the world. But his tone and gestures, and the reaction of the crowd were unsettling in such a way that other charismatic leaders such as Hitler and Dr. Doom came immediately to mind. However, I still l wasn’t going to let the fact that I didn’t like one of its members formulate my whole opinion of Scientology. I mean, I still liked Jenna. That has to count for something, right? There were more speakers following him. Local politicians and the head of the Allentown Business Association got up there and informed us what this new structure was adding to the City of Buffalo. I have to admit, it’s a damn good looking building. It adds a lot to the run down section of Buffalo where it was built. The Church also claims it plans to help revitalize Main Street. In my opinion, anything that’s going to add something new to Downtown Buffalo is a good thing. Then our beloved Mayor Tony got up there and declared November 16^th ‘Buffalo Scientology Day’. Then he helped cut the big red ribbon, and it honestly looked like he was trying to hit on poor Jenna.

I tried to rescue her by waving from the crowd, but she didn’t see me.

After the opening ceremony concluded, the Church was opened and we were treated to the grand tour. For some reason, the BEAST staffers were pushed to the front of the line. No other member of the media was being treated like we were. It seemed as though they were favoring us for some reason. Or maybe watching us. We weren’t left alone at all. We had what they called a ‘host’ with us at all times. Supposedly they were there to answer our questions, but it seemed more along the lines of babysitting. We were seriously followed throughout the whole event, mostly by a chubby Toronto-based Scientology minister named Al who looked disturbingly like L. Ron Hubbard. But nobody was mixing up any Kool-Aid. That was a good sign.

Scientology for Dummies

One thing we did learn is that one of Scientology’s core beliefs is that the spirit (or Thetan) lives on forever, in this world. This seems to be similar to a form of reincarnation. I’m still not clear on the whole concept, however. As I’ve said, this organization is very enigmatic.

The practice of auditing is something that was explained a little better than anything else. What I get from this is that you sit down with someone known as an auditor (duh), who analyzes the issues in your life and somehow makes all the bad things just go away. Poof. And all you’re left with is the good. This brings up a few philosophical questions. 1.) Is that really a positive thing? 2.)Is this something that’s supposed to benefit you? 3.)If you go around being happy all the time, not knowing grief anymore, how do you even know what true joy even is? It’s been said that to have Good, Evil is a necessity. Good defines evil and vice versa. This seems to negate all of that.

Keeping with this line of thought, a lot of children are born into this. At least as an adult going into the Church, you have recollection of grief and depression. If a child is trained in this practically from birth, how do they know that they’re actually happy? By comparing themselves to other people as they grow up and interact with society? I was brought up to believe that every person is different. What might be a bad experience for one person, might be the exact opposite for the next.

It all seems like a good idea on the surface. Self-improvement. Developing better inter-personal relationships. But, at what cost? It’s almost as though you have to give your whole life over to Scientology with 15 hour plus auditing sessions and almost constant service to the Church. I was raised a Catholic. All we had to do was show up one day a week for a half hour or so, feel guilty about everything you did during the week, and then go home and watch football.
The entire time we were there I felt like an outsider. There was something I was missing, a hidden text not read or secret handshake not known. I was the Republican at an anti-Bush rally, the sand it their bathing suit .

They were nice enough to us. Nicer in fact, then most people in this city. They tried to accommodate our every need but some of the looks that I received made me feel like I was of a completely different species. I’m not entirely sure on how the view outsiders, but I felt like the majority of them felt uneasy around me. Did they not us, or were they shielding themselves from a possible anti-Scientologist that could, at any moment, start trying to convince them that their chosen path was incorrect?

Isolated from the real world by a gauze thin layer of mistrust, I had entered Frank Herbert’s ‘Santaroga’, a town which exists within itself and survives solely on the production of its own citizens. Mistrusting although gracious to outsiders, I could sense a deeper hostility to those not of its own. While they put on a good front to those of us who didn’t quite fit in, there was a feeling of hostility lurking just below the surface, hidden just enough so I wasn’t sure if what I was sensing was actually there. The only exceptions to that rule were the early 20’s, brown-sweater-wearing (and extremely cute) girls who seemed genuinely happy with our presence. One went so far as to admit to being a BEAST reader.

And in the End…
Which brings us to the after-party. The Road played. Apparently they were a 1970’s rock band which sold copies of ‘Dianetics’ at all of its shows. All the musicians were original members, with the exception of Larry the Drummer. He played for a band called Management a little while ago. I saw him at Broadway Joe’s and they rocked the doors off the place. Some very good Beatles tunes. I’d never heard anyone cover Norwegian Wood before.

And the girls! Scientology is missing the beat here on a major selling point. Good looking girls everywhere. Do they manufacture them in the basement? And the kicker is…they all wanted to talk to us. NO ONE wants to talk to us. We look like Ralph Nader and Howard Sterns ugly love children.
All in all, while I was hoping this to be an eye-opening and insightful experience, it really wasn’t. I got more of an eerie feeling from the whole thing, kind of like I had stepped into an episode of The Twilight Zone, where aliens had come and taken over the people of Earth. Which may have been true, if any credibility is to be given to the story of Xenu and the Thetans.

After reading Rob’s last entry I was buzzing around the net looking to see if there was any recent developments surrounding the Church of Scientology. As you may or may not know Rob and I did a piece on them a while back for a local newspaper when they opened a new church in our area so we have dealt with them before. In my browsing I find a headline on Operation Clambake that just pissed me the fuck off.
Keith Henson arrested in U.S (Link leads to a small blurb on slashdot.org)

During my research on Scientology I became aware of Mr. Henson’s story.
The quick version of the story is that in 1996 some of Scientology’s “secret” documents, New Era Dianetics A.K.A. NOTS, were leaked onto the internet, Henson read them and came to the conclusion that Scientology was committing medical fraud.

From the Wikipedia article on Mr. Henson:

The NOTS documents, he said, contained detailed instructions for the treatment of physical ailments and illnesses through the use of Scientology practices. However, a Supreme Court decision in 1971 had declared that Scientology’s writings were meant for “purely spiritual” purposes, and all Scientology books published since then have included disclaimers stating that Scientology’s E-meter device “does nothing” and does not cure any physical ailments (United States v. Founding Church of Scientology et al., US District Court, District of Columbia 333 F. Supp. 357, July 30, 1971 [1]). The NOTS procedures, Henson claimed, were a violation of this decision. To prove his claim, Henson posted two pages from the NOTS documents onto the Usenet newsgroup alt.religion.scientology.

Eventually a part of the church called the Religious Technology Center hit him with a lawsuit. He lost and was ordered to pay $75,000, it is estimated that the organization spent a total of about $2 million in litigation against Henson. The judge would not allow him to argue that posting the documents in order to discredit them was covered by Fair Use. Henson filed bankruptcy and continued his protest of the church while the church continued to harass him.
While protesting outside of the Gold Base Scientology film studio he was arrested and hit with criminal charges. The church claimed he was a dangerous stalker with a background in explosives. They said he was a terrorist and likened him to Timothy McVeigh. They claimed he said in a post to alt.scientology that he was going to blow up the studio.
Henson was charged with making terrorist threats, attempting to make terrorist threats, and making threats to interfere with freedom to enjoy a constitutional privilege, all misdemeanors under California Law.

During the trial the church filed several motions to exclude a good amount of Henson’s defense including the testimony of the lead investigator, Sheriff’s Detective Tony Greer. Greer had previously said “In reviewing all of the Internet postings I did not see any direct threat of violence towards the church or any personnel of the church.”
Ready for the kicker?
The judge allowed this. How in the hell was this even close to a fair trail?
He was eventually convicted on only one of the three counts, making threats to interfere with freedom. Instead of serving jail time, where he feared that his life would be in danger, he fled to Canada and applied for asylum. He stayed in Canada for three years until his plea for asylum was denied. He then fled again, this time back into the U.S. and remained for two years until his recent arrest in Arizona.He His hearing is set for May 8th.

One more quote from Wikipedia before I go:

The Electronic Frontier Foundation, as well as Henson’s supporters on the USENET newsgroup alt.religion.scientology, claim his trial was biased, unfair and a mockery of justice.

I would like my name added to that list.

During my internet travels today, I visited one of my favorite websites: Findadeath.com. Everything you ever need to know about celebrity deaths can be found here. It’s funny, I could care less what celebrities are doing in their personal lives while they’re among their living, but once they die I’m all over it.

I was reading about Anna Nicole Smith, who as you all know recently bought the proverbial farm. I still can’t figure out why she was so popular in the first place, and why her death seems to have become the preoccupation of every American since it happened. She got more publicity when she died than Geroge Harrison, for Christ’s sake. It was on every freakin’ channel, and even Larry King was in tears. He’s probably just pissed because he never got to sleep with her when she was alive. Apparently she was on his show quite a bit.

Anyway, back to my original point. Anna Nicole is dead, and about 1,000 men are claiming to have fathered her spawn. It’s a big mess that coul apparently have been avoided, though. John Travolta says so. According to him, Lord Xenu could have saved her life. Here’s the article taken from http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1501119/story.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=10426673 :

John Travolta says Scientology could have saved Anna Nicole Smith.

The actor insists the late Playboy Playmate may still be alive if she had checked into the controversial Scientology drug and detox programme Narconon.

John, who worked with Anna Nicole on Be Cool, said: “It’s so sad. We could have helped her with Narconon but didn’t get the chance to. I wish we had.”

Narconon has been widely criticised for its unorthodox methods which are inspired by the teachings of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. The treatment includes taking large doses of vitamins, an intensive running programme, and long sauna sessions which “run out” drugs and “radiation” from the body. Scientologists insist Narconon is 85 per cent effective, but it has been alleged the method has been used to convert vulnerable drug addicts to the bizarre sci-fi cult.

A toxicology report from Anna Nicole’s autopsy is yet to be released.

The model-and-actress died on February 8, after being found unconscious in Hollywood’s Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino.

Methadone and prescription drugs were found in her hotel room.

Of course Scientology could have saved her. Scientology can do anything, even cure homosexuality. Hell, Scientology was even able to help Tom Cruise spawn. That’s a modern miracle!

I could go on here about my feelings about Scientology, but I’ll save that for another time. I’m just anxiously awaiting the arrival of the new religion inspired by the writings of Dean Koontz.