Hit by another tsunami of bad press, this time over the May publication of Ron Miscavige’s bestselling book Ruthless, Ron’s son, Scientology leader David Miscavige, is hitting back with his own grab for media attention — by bringing out a 34-year-old science fiction novel, L. Ron Hubbard’s Battlefield Earth.
Yesterday, Hubbard’s literary agency Author Services Inc — staffed only by Scientologists — held a book launch event outside its building on Hollywood Boulevard that featured a crashed spaceship, characters from the novel, and even a band of soldiers in Scottish gear (it’s in the book).
Also on hand were a few Underground Bunker regulars, Fred G. Haseney and Brett Chance, who were filming as former Scientologist Phil Jones, of “Call Me” Billboard fame, approached the gathering to tell people about the fact that his daughter works at ASI, but he hasn’t seen her in five years because of Scientology’s “disconnection” policy that rips up families.
There to intercept them was Scientology Office of Special Affairs luminary Ed Parkin, wearing an ascot reminiscent of Hubbard himself, as well as a bizarre woman who did her best to “enturbulate” Phil about his failings as a Scientologist.
It was all caught on video, and Brett threw together an edited segment of it for us. We think you’re really going to find this interesting.
There are some really interesting strategies by both Parkin and the woman. Let us know what you think of them.
UPDATE: We now have a possible ID of the woman in the video. A reader says he knows her from his time in the church as Sheila Bakker.
Sheila was listed as Clear #2312 in a 1970 edition of The Auditor.
Looks like we’re right…
(End of update.)
We’ll be interested to see if the book’s launch gets much traction with the press. But two local stations, CBS Channel 2 and KCAL 9, dutifully complied yesterday…
Meanwhile, we told you earlier that Scientologists have been told they need to post reviews of the book at Amazon to help try to make this launch go viral. And some of the names popping up are really interesting.
[In case you’ve forgotten about Mary.]
[A man named Larry Tepper makes an appearance in The Unbreakable Miss Lovely. That was the name of an operative Scientology used to trick Robert Kaufman into turning over the manuscript of his 1972 book, Inside Scientology, to the church. Could it be?]
[Mansell and Stilo have testified for Scientology in recent lawsuits.]
[Michael Lewis runs a Scientology field office in Los Angeles. His son, Johnny Lewis, was an actor on Sons of Anarchy before he went nuts and killed his landlord and her cat before falling on his head, to his death.]
[This review was brought to the attention of Phil Jones, who agrees that it is probably his daughter, Sea Org member and Galaxy Press employee Emily Jones.]
[Remember Anna Paddock?]
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BUNKER ALERT! It’s the Kobrinator, TONIGHT, in Glendale!
All you OGs from ARS and the like are going to want to see this one right away, so we’re posting it now even though it’s late in the day. But there’s still plenty of time for folks in the Glendale area who might want to catch a look at the legendary Helena Kobrin. It was Kobrin who, on January 11, 1995 and on behalf of the Church of Scientology, attempted to have the entire newsgroup alt.religion.scientology removed from Usenet. Talk about a Barbra Streisand moment. Scientology was paying for that little caper for decades. But hey, who wouldn’t want to get advice for how to fire employees from such a legendary buzzkill like Helena?
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Posted by Tony Ortega on June 15, 2016 at 07:00
E-mail tips and story ideas to tonyo94 AT gmail DOT com or follow us on Twitter. We post behind-the-scenes updates at our Facebook author page. After every new story we send out an alert to our e-mail list and our FB page.
Our book, The Unbreakable Miss Lovely: How the Church of Scientology tried to destroy Paulette Cooper, is on sale at Amazon in paperback and Kindle editions. We’ve posted photographs of Paulette and scenes from her life at a separate location. Reader Sookie put together a complete index. More information about the book, and our 2015 book tour, can also be found at the book’s dedicated page.
Learn about Scientology with our numerous series with experts…
BLOGGING DIANETICS: We read Scientology’s founding text cover to cover with the help of L.A. attorney and former church member Vance Woodward
UP THE BRIDGE: Claire Headley and Bruce Hines train us as Scientologists
GETTING OUR ETHICS IN: Jefferson Hawkins explains Scientology’s system of justice
SCIENTOLOGY MYTHBUSTING: Historian Jon Atack discusses key Scientology concepts
Other links: Shelly Miscavige, ten years gone | The Lisa McPherson story told in real time | The Cathriona White stories | The Leah Remini ‘Knowledge Reports’ | Hear audio of a Scientology excommunication | Scientology’s little day care of horrors | Whatever happened to Steve Fishman? | Felony charges for Scientology’s drug rehab scam | Why Scientology digs bomb-proof vaults in the desert | PZ Myers reads L. Ron Hubbard’s “A History of Man” | Scientology’s Master Spies | Scientology’s Private Dancer | The mystery of the richest Scientologist and his wayward sons | Scientology’s shocking mistreatment of the mentally ill | Scientology boasts about assistance from Google | The Underground Bunker’s Official Theme Song | The Underground Bunker FAQ
Our Guide to Alex Gibney’s film ‘Going Clear,’ and our pages about its principal figures…
Jason Beghe | Tom DeVocht | Sara Goldberg | Paul Haggis | Mark “Marty” Rathbun | Mike Rinder | Spanky Taylor | Hana Whitfield
