|
|
 The mugshot of Denise Gentile We now return to our annual year-in-review, and we hope you enjoy hearing about how busy we were this past spring here in the Bunker. The month of May started out with a legal setback for Scientology: a California appeals court refused to consider the church’s attempt to hold onto documents that a lower court decided should be turned over to Laura DeCrescenzo in her force-abortion lawsuit. But then a few days later, the church petitioned the state’s supreme court on the matter. On May 7, Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin signed “Stacy’s Law,” tightening regulation over Scientology’s drug rehab center in that state. Continue reading Scientology’s 2013 in review: The appeals of May and the blunts of June
 We want to wish a happy Boxing Day to our Commonwealth friends as we continue our look back at the year that was.
On March 1 we launched SMERSH MADNESS — our very own tournament of champions. On that first day, we pitted L. Ron Hubbard against Australian journalist Steve Cannane, and Hubbard won by only a single vote! On March 4, we published a major leak of internal Scientology documents. We carefully excerpted material from the secret “life histories” that Sea Org members are required to write about themselves. For some bizarre reason, Scientology is particularly interested in a Sea Org member’s sexual history and masturbatory habits, and with these excerpts we showed how young people are compelled to describe things an employer should never have the right to know. Continue reading Scientology’s 2013 in review: Madness set in as spring arrived!
 While we continue our year in review, we have a great interruption that we weren’t expecting — a gift to the Bunker community from one of our best, The Hole Does Not Exist.
She sent us a sound file, and we threw together some familiar Bunker images for it that we hope resonate for our loyal readers. Can you identify everyone in them? What a great surprise present! Thank you, THDNE, and Mr. Hole, and L. Wrong, for putting something so fun under our tree. Continue reading Merry Christmas, and here’s your present! From the Underground Bunker, with feeling
 It’s that time of year, when we look back at the past twelve months and recount the highlights here in the Underground Bunker.
As you settle in for the holidays, we want to give a big thanks to our amazing commenting community, which grew exponentially this year, and day in and day out has made this place what it is. Now, let’s look back on 2013 and what made it one of the toughest years for Scientology in its history. Continue reading The Underground Bunker Year-in-Review starts today: A January for the ages!
 We’ve seen a lot of Scientology testimonials over the years. There’s something really interesting about the way Scientologists talk to each other in their jargon-filled language when they try to convince other members about their big “wins.”
But we don’t think we’ve ever seen quite the success story like the one that was published in the latest issue of the Fort Harrison Hotel newsletter. It’s so remarkable, we thought it was worth a post of its own. Continue reading Scientology’s mecca wants you to come to Florida and run circles around a pole
 On Sundays, we like to reveal to you the various things our tipsters have forwarded to us during the week — mailers and fliers that Scientology sends out to its members as the call for donations goes ever onwards.
This week, the world of Scientology is preparing for one its biggest days on the calendar. New Year’s Eve is a major landmark for the church, because, well, who knows. It just is. So make plans to get on down to your local org for some late night partying and wallet loosening. Let’s start with the biggest change for the church and its New Year’s Eve plans. For the first time ever, the main party will be not in Los Angeles but in Clearwater, Florida. In yet another sign that things are shifting to Florida at the expense of Scientology’s other major hubs in England and California, the main event will be happening on December 27 at that big tent near the Super Power Building which has seen so many other big celebrations in recent weeks. Continue reading Sunday Funnies: Scientology sends us a letter!
 Jon Atack is the author of A Piece of Blue Sky, one of the very best books on L. Ron Hubbard and Scientology. He has a new edition of the book for sale, and on Saturdays he’s helping us sift through the legends, myths, and contested facts about Scientology that tend to get hashed and rehashed in books, articles, and especially on the Internet.
On Thursday, Jefferson Hawkins explained to us how Scientolgy’s system of “ethics” seals church members off from outside influence. But how, ultimately, do Scientologists then break out of that bubble and escape? Jon Atack this week helps us understand that process. Continue reading Jon Atack: For Scientologists, thinking outside the church can feel like breaking a taboo
 The Hollywood Reporter broke the news today: Tom Cruise has finally given up on his dumb lawsuit against In Touch and Life & Style magazines.
He was seeking $50 million in damages because the magazines had claimed that Cruise had “abandoned” his daughter Suri after his 2012 divorce to Katie Holmes. But then, after a tough year of discovery, it turned out that the magazines had done their homework, and the facts showed that Cruise had only seen his daughter a handful of times over a 110-day period. After that, any chance of convincing a jury that the magazines had lied about Cruise with malice were pretty much nil. So, no big surprise that he gave up the suit. It only brought him waves of additional media laughter based on some of the things he’d said in a deposition that was put into the court file. So why did he even pursue this loser of a suit, wasting lots of money and only embarrassing himself further, when there was little chance of victory to begin with? Continue reading Tom Cruise drops his disastrous suit against Bauer Media and its magazines
Starting today, we’re beginning a new weekly feature that we think is going to impinge. (That’s Scientology talk for “have a big effect.”)
The Underground Bunker has heard from a source who has access to a large number of Scientology’s internal videos. We believe that some of the videos have never been online before. Others, like today’s, did make it to the Internet, but then were pulled down by threats from Scientology. We’re not getting a lot of information from our source about the videos except where to find them online. But we did some quick research and so we know that today’s piece, “Boots in the Sky,” is something that Scientologists know very well. The words you will hear are spoken by L. Ron Hubbard — it’s from a lecture he gave as part of the Philadelphia Doctorate Course in December 1952. Continue reading A video Scientology doesn’t want you to see: “Boots in the Sky”
 Jefferson Hawkins was once the top marketing executive for the Church of Scientology and helped it reach its greatest extent with the famous “volcano” TV ads in the 1980s. He’s told his tale of getting into and out of the church with his excellent books Counterfeit Dreams and Leaving Scientology, and he’s helping us understand the upside-down world of Scientology “ethics.”
Where are you taking us this week, Jeff? JEFFERSON: This week we’ll be looking at Chapter 8 of Introduction to Scientology Ethics, which is called “Ethics in Scientology Organizations,” and contains a somewhat random collection of L. Ron Hubbard’s “Policy Letters” on the theme of the role of Ethics, and the Ethics Officer, in a Scientology Org. Continue reading How Scientology ‘ethics’ creates your very own Truman Show
|
