Never forget
One of the targets of Scientology’s destructive schemes was the Clearwater Sun, a daily newspaper that served the town Scientology had stealthily taken over in 1975. Documents seized by the FBI showed that the Sun‘s publisher, editors, and reporters had been targeted with surveillance and smear schemes. Church spies were planted in the newsroom and advertising departments, plans were made to lie to advertisers to get them to drop the paper, and other plans were hatched to devalue the paper until the church could buy it and take control. The church also investigated letter writers who spoke critically of the church.
The editors of the Sun decided that they’d seen enough. We ran across this editorial the paper published on November 27, 1979, and we couldn’t help thinking of the recent outrage from folks in Clearwater when the church cut down a couple of healthy live-oak trees for an upcoming event after the city told it not to. The church was fined $2,000.
They were just trees, of course.
But we wonder about the effect if the Tampa Bay Times were to resurrect this editorial from a time when Scientology’s takeover of downtown was only four years in…
Now It’s Time for Action
Clearwater Sun, Nov 27, 1979
There comes a time in the history of a community when the talking has to stop and direct action has to start.
It seems to the Sun such a time has arrived for Clearwater, in its relation to the Church of Scientology.
The cult has been here four years. For a time, the possibility might have existed that a form of detente could be worked out between the Scientologists and the people of Clearwater. But the recent release of thousands of Scientology documents in Washington, D.C. has put such a possibility forever behind us.
These documents have indelibly stamped Scientology as an agency of vengeance and wrongdoing, of malice and mischief.
For years the Sun’s editorial position has been that the cult of Scientology is bad for Clearwater and should leave this city.
Now it is time to act. Here is what we are doing:
— As of today, the Clearwater Sun is ceasing all business contact with the Scientology organization. We have removed our vending machines from all cult-owned property, and we henceforth will refuse any advertising from the Scientologists.
— We are urging all Clearwater-area businesses to cut off trade with the Scientology organization. We do NOT advocate that businesses refuse to deal with individual members of the cult nor fail to honor contractual obligations, but we do encourage vendors and tradesmen to stop supplying goods and services to the cult’s buildings and property.
— Beginning today the Sun will not publish the name and address of any person who writes to us with criticism or adverse comments on Scientology. Letters still must be signed, but we will not reveal the writers’ identities, to protect them from harassment by the Scientologists.
Some of these measures are distasteful to us, but the cult on Fort Harrison has shown it is more than deserving of distasteful actions. We particularly are concerned that we must allow our letter writers to resort to secrecy, but the documents in Washington show that Scientologists don’t want our readers to have their say. They have compiled intelligence files on those who criticized the organization, even branding them as enemies to be investigated.
Normally the Sun requires proper identification to appear with any letter we print on our editorial pages. However, we are persuaded that continuation of this policy will prevent the full use of our pages as a forum on Scientology because some would-be writers will fear retaliation by the cult.
These above steps are for openers. There will be others. It is our passionate belief that Clearwater must rid itself of the offices of Scientology. Action must be taken, not merely by the Sun, and not on a short-term basis. But a start has to be made by someone.
AdvertisementThe Sun is doing this because of our conviction that the following things are true:
1. Scientology is not a religion, as it claims to be, but rather a for-profit group that uses religion as a guise to escape taxes and separate credulous men and women of large sums of money in exchange for superficial training in mental and emotional disciplines.
2. Scientologists of both high and low rank have in behalf of the cult, engaged in lying, theft, burglary, breaking and entering, conspiracy, and illegal harassment of private citizens.
3. The presence of Scientology in Clearwater constitutes a clear and present danger to the continued prosperity of the community and its citizens.
4. Despite the revelations found in the Washington documents and the recent adjudications of guilt of conspiracy by Scientology leaders, not one local Scientologist has publicly repudiated the wrongdoing evidenced in the cult’s documents or the admissions of those leaders.
5. Individual Scientologists have repeatedly and over several years lied about their activities.
6. The weight of what has happened in the past four years is evidence too strong to ignore, that Scientologists will resort to whatever means are required for them to survive and prosper. The Sun does not and cannot believe that Scientology will change. Therefore, it is a blight upon Clearwater.
Our actions in connection with Scientology are not taken lightly.
We are especially concerned that our opposition to the cult not be taken as malice toward individual members. These men and women deserve pity, not hostility. And we exhort the citizens of Clearwater to behave legally and with moderation toward each cult member.
But the organization itself is large, rich and well able to defend its position. For that reason we cannot undertake these actions with a faint heart or while sounding an uncertain trumpet.
And we do not.
They don’t write newspaper editorials like they used to, that’s for sure!
Continuing on with our Sunday Funnies, in which we reveal what our tipsters have sent us during the week, we have such a huge flow of theta going through the bunker this morning we’ve hardly taken our hands off the copper rods except to salute our bust of the Commodore.
As you know, we’ve been watching for months as the folks in the San Fernando Valley have been nearly frantic about getting each other to fork over enough money to renovate their “Ideal Org.”
We heard from one tipster who said the appeals for money were getting so out of hand, he received nineteen separate e-mails asking him to donate to the project in a single day.
Well, it all supposedly culminated last night with a big fundraiser that was supposed to put this project over the top. And to give you some sense of the hype going into it, here’s one testimonial that was sent around regarding the last Ideal Org opening, in Portland…
Hey, Jeremy’s thrilled to have spent a million bucks on a big empty building, where’s your contribution?
In this next message, from the irrepressible Quinn Taufer, we begin to see how the whales of the Valley were having their flippers twisted as the deadline neared. Note the subtle warning here — ONLY an “Ideal Org” is going to be able to deliver, fully, the great new material of the Golden Age of Technology Phase Two. So if you slackers don’t start forking over Jeremy Arezzini-sized checks soon, you won’t be able to get any progress on your cases! See how that works? Clever…
Dear Valley,
Here we sit just days away for the largest event we have ever had in Ideal Org making history!!! What we have planned for this event will blow away the last and is setting a whole new standard for the world to apply.
As I am sure you know, there are tremendous amounts of preparations going into the release of Golden Age of Tech Phase II. With all that is in the works, Los Angeles is poised for exponential expansion. BUT, we must come together to accomplish this OT feat in preparation for what’s to come.
Because the ability to deliver the Golden Age of Tech Phase II is only built in an Ideal Org. Only in Ideal Orgs can the full panoply of Golden Age of Tech Phase II be delivered—and there is a final piece to complete the Ideal City of Los Angeles… and that’s the Valley Ideal Org.
Considering what Golden Age of Tech Phase II will mean in terms of speed up the Grade Chart, with this final Ideal Org in place we will not only be able to move greater numbers than ever onto and up the Bridge in LA, but generate a commensurate number of auditors to flow outward, opening new field groups, missions, social betterment activities and all else that will permeate LRH tech throughout all of LA. I know this is why you have decided to do what you have done thus far.
I am writing you as we are doing everything possible to complete this final Ideal Org of Los Angeles in preparation for the unprecedented Bridge flow on the horizon. Time is of the essence and Valley is to complete putting in place all necessary funds for the full renovations of their new Ideal Org before the release of Golden Age of Tech Phase II in the coming weeks.
With that, I am asking that you move up in status N O W either by funding your pledge or originating a new status (and trust me you will not want to miss being awarded that the 7th September Event)!!! As LRH said, “The ideal org is the image one builds toward. It is the product of the causative actions of many.”
Your causative actions are needed and more so now then ever in our drive to Ideal. We are in the final leg of making the first Ideal and Scientology city on the planet. The Golden age of Tech Phase II is being released and requires an org to be Ideal to be able to deliver it – this isn’t a gimmick or tag line, no, this is a point of getting in KSW third dynamically. It’s a matter of all standard admin and tech lines for delivery, it’s a matter of dissemination, it’s a matter again of getting KSW IN, IN FULL across all divisions of the org board left to right and top to bottom. And yes you are needed to make this happen, YOU.
The Valley is the closest and next to open, our target is the 19th of September you are a major factor in making this a reality, move up in status when you do we will be done, get your friends to do so as well. And attend the 7th September EP event!
Much love,
Quinn Taufer
Valley Expansion Project I/C
And here’s what it was all leading up to: Our thanks to the tipster who sent us this video teaser for last night’s big party. Make sure you play this mutha full screen — you’re going to love the last little bit with Her Royal Governor, Nancy Cartwright, bouncing at center stage. Somebody more savvy oughta turn that into a gif, we reckon…
OK, after all that hoopla about the Valley, let’s step back in time and get back in touch with Source. Many thanks to the tipster who sent us this vintage FSM Newsletter from Europe. The year was 1998, but the highlight of the document is a 1981/82 message from Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard himself. First, here’s what the item looks like…
And here’s the message from Hubbard, who figured there were 2 million Scientologists in the early 1980s, well on the way to taking over the world…
How Long Will It Take To Clear The Planet?
The way to earn widespread ACCEPTANCE and RECOGNITION of Scientology is to DELIVER the technology of Dianetics and Scientology in VOLUME and with 100 percent standard application…
To do this, the org has to work as a TEAM and bring about the TOTAL PARTICIPATION of the Scientology public and field.
The entire population of this planet is only around 4.2 billion. This includes Russia and the densely populated China and the Far East.
I am told there are over TWO MILLION active Scientologists around the world today.
If each Scientologist contacted one person each month and got him active on the ROAD TO TOTAL FREEDOM and each of these people did the same, within twelve months this would add up to over FOUR BILLION SCIENTOLOGISTS!
I figured this out the other day and realised that if you started a campaign of ToTAL PARTICIPATION and got all Scientologists active in making new Scientologists and going up both sides of the Grade Chart themselves, you could have a majority of the planet on the Bridge in less than a year! And Scientology would become a household word in every society, fully accepted and recognised everywhere.
And if each Scientologist moved up the Bridge through the Grade Chart and onto the OT levels and trained up as auditors, we would have a saner, more powerful planet than any in the history of the entire PHYSICAL UNIVERSE!”
L. Ron Hubbard
(Extracted from LRH ED 326 INT, “1981/82 BIRTHDAY GAME”)
Sorry, Commodore, but things didn’t work out that way. Also, if you look very closely, you’ll see that of Europe’s top Field Staff Members (FSMs, who disseminate Scientology and bring in new meat), #4 that year was “Lizzie Calcioli,” who is Neil Gaiman’s sister. Fun fact!
This next item shows us that yet another set of suckers, er, customers, are being given the opportunity to pay $500 for a leather-bound copy of Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health customized for a certain Ideal Org project. But why we’re really showing this to you is that it seems to imply that the next Ideal Org grand opening will be in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Do we have any Bunker readers over there who can give us an update on the project?
Bringing freedom to the Chinese speaking world
OFFICIAL PUBLISHER OF L. RON HUBBARD
Hello ,
I wanted to give you the opportunity to be one of the first to see our newly released Kaohsiung Ideal Org Leatherbound! You can place your order now to get the lowest numbered edition still available.
In preparation for the upcoming grand opening of the first-ever Ideal Org in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, this limited edition leatherbound edition of Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health will fund a dissemination campaign to open the gateway to China. Here’s a look at this elegant volume (click to view large image):
This unique edition is limited to 500 individually numbered copies. Each book bears an image of the Ideal Org logo, endsheets which embody the org’s motif and gilded pages with a red satin ribbon. Here is your chance to own a piece of Scientology history.
Donation Price: $500 USD
Hey, let’s hear it for Alison Lorch, who spent a shitload of money and got to handle a really big sword.
Hey, gang, Dr. Vikki Petersen is a chiropractor, an OT VIII, and a platinum humanitarian! That means she’s a voodoo doctor who has achieved the highest level of woo on the Scientology scale, and has given the church at least $750,000!
Who is Dr. Vikki Petersen? Well she’s apparently the author of The Gluten Effect, runs the HealthNOW clinic in Sunnyvale, California, and has been getting some publicity for her anti-gluten campaigns. Hey, we can’t imagine someone better to handle our nutritional needs than a civilization-builder like Dr. Vikki!
And we’ve saved the best for last in this giant package of Sunday Funnies. We adore the attitude in this newsletter from Scotland, where Scientology is simply kicking psychiatry’s ass in a kilt made of awesome.
Thanks again to our great tipsters! More big stories on the way!
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Late Add: More Tom Cruise Silliness, Nick Xenophon Winning Big
Late last night, the Australian and British tabs were going a little crazy after a report in the UK’s Grazia. It cites unnamed sources that claim Tom Cruise is once again using Scientology’s dating services to find him a woman in her 30s who has been in the church at least five years.
The fact-lite story also claims that Tom has met someone who meets this criteria, supposedly a friend of actress Laura Prepon, who introduced the friend to Tom at the recent Hollywood Celebrity Centre Gala.
One problem: Tom wasn’t at the Gala.
Derp.
Also, in Australia, independent Senator Nick Xenophon, a strong advocate for government investigation of Scientology’s abuses, is apparently winning re-election in a big way. We trust that one of our Aussie readers will help us comprehend the legislative election process over there, which is quite different than here in the States.
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Posted by Tony Ortega on September 8, 2013 at 07:00
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