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 This promises to be an amazing week here at the Underground Bunker. On Tuesday, we’re told, the Oklahoma legislature may finally approve a new law that will put Scientology’s drug rehab flagship center in that state, Narconon Arrowhead, under stricter state control (and may actually put it out of business). Another big story we’re following — Luis Garcia’s federal fraud lawsuit in Tampa — may produce a huge finding from Judge James Whittemore about Scientology’s insistence about religious arbitration.
And in the meantime, of course, we’re still excited about Friday’s police raid of Scientology’s drug rehab facility in the Atlanta region, the first raid by law enforcement of a Scientology facility in the U.S. since the FBI swarmed church offices in D.C. and Los Angeles in 1977. These are exciting times! But let’s not forget the founder of our feast, L. Ron Hubbard, and his wise words. Keeping up on Scientology’s beliefs is not an easy proposition. Take the publication Slate this week, for example, which included this whopper in an otherwise quality piece about Tom Cruise… Continue reading Scientology Metaphysics: After Death, Will You Go to Mars or Venus?
 We’re still reeling here over Friday’s news that Scientology’s drug rehab center in Atlanta — Narconon Georgia — was raided by police in an insurance fraud investigation.
As we’ve been reporting in some depth over the last year, every step of Narconon’s business plan is steeped in deceptions, all of which is designed to send money up the line and ultimately to Scientology itself. The raid may have been prompted by a single instance of allegedly fraudulent insurance billing, but we’re salivating over the thought of so many documents being seized that a U-Haul trailer had to be brought in to carry it all away. If you’re familiar with the backstory, you know that it took attorney Jeff Harris years to get extremely damaging information out of that facility. Now state investigators have a truckload of the stuff. As Mike Rinder pointed out on Friday evening, this is turning into Scientology leader David Miscavige’s worst nightmare. However, it may be quite a while before we learn what was in those documents. And in the meantime, we have another set of mailers and fliers that our tipsters sent to us for this week’s Sunday Funnies. So let’s dig in! Continue reading Scientology Sunday Funnies: Baby We’re Amazed!
 Jon Atack is the author of A Piece of Blue Sky, one of the very best books on L. Ron Hubbard and Scientology. He now has a new edition of the book out, 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.
Jon, we have to admit that we’re pretty skeptical about Scientology’s “R2-45” policy, which was mentioned on this blog earlier this week. Supposedly, L. Ron Hubbard instructed his followers that to use the R2-45 method was to eliminate church enemies with the use of a Colt semi-automatic pistol (with .45 caliber ammunition). What’s the evidence that LRH ever really invented a policy of murder? Continue reading Scientology’s Notorious R2-45 Policy: Is There a Smoking Gun?
Pete Combs at Atlanta’s WSB Radio announced today that state and county officials entered Scientology’s drug rehab center in the Atlanta area — Narconon Georgia — and confiscated evidence in an ongoing state investigation of insurance fraud. [Two important updates on this story below…] Combs says that half a dozen officers, including two Gwinnett County police officers, entered the premises with search warrants today and then hauled away boxes of records and computers, and also interviewed employees. Combs will soon have a detailed story about the raid, and we’ll link to it as soon as we can. (And here it is.) Previously, the Atlanta coordinated media team of WSB Radio, WSB-TV, and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution had reported that a patient of Narconon Georgia had learned that her insurance company — United Healthcare — had been billed $166,000 for services that Narconon never performed. (Here’s the AJC‘s story about today’s raid. And here’s the story from WSB-TV.) Continue reading RAID ON SCIENTOLOGY’S DRUG REHAB CENTER IN ATLANTA Advertisement
 Welcome to our ongoing project, where we blog a 1950 first edition of Scientology’s bible, Dianetics, with the help of ex-Scientologist, lawyer, and author Vance Woodward. Go here for the first post in the series.
We’re now getting into a very interesting part of Dianetics. We’re finally going to learn some actual methods of auditing, and L. Ron Hubbard wants us to understand that what he is teaching us is in no way hypnosis. Of course, when Hubbard is very emphatic about something, you should always figure that the opposite may be true. Let’s take a look at the way he describes how to get a subject into the proper dianetic “reverie”… Continue reading Dianetics is Not Hypnosis — Well, Except For That “You Are Feeling Sleepy” Part
 Federal Judge James Whittemore today denied the Church of Scientology’s request to bolster its response to Luis and Rocio Garcia’s fraud lawsuit.
On Monday night, the Garcias filed numerous damning declarations by former church members and officials who say that the church has created a situation that makes it impossible for excommunicated members to obtain refunds. (Scientology courses are extremely expensive and it’s not unusual for members to put tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of dollars on account for future services which may never be undertaken.) The church — which had already used up its 25-page limit to respond to the lawsuit — asked for an exception to local rules to file an additional 10-page memo and a set of its own declarations that it said would prove its arbitration policies are fair. Today, Judge Whittemore denied Scientology’s request to file more pages, which may indicate that he’s close to a decision about Scientology’s motion that the case be moved to internal church arbitration and dismissed from the federal court. Continue reading FED COURT DENIES SCIENTOLOGY REQUEST: Decision on Religious Arbitration Coming Soon?
 Luis Garcia, causing trouble Monday evening, the Garcia federal fraud lawsuit against the Church of Scientology heated up when the Garcias filed several declarations from former church members who said Scientology’s refund process is designed to be a sham. [ALSO IN THIS POST — The New York Times strokes Tom Cruise] Now, the church has fired back, asking federal Judge James Whittemore to allow Scientology to file a 10-page memorandum and a set of their own declarations in support of its previous argument and — and here’s the really ballsy part — the judge should then butt out, because the church’s position is a religious one and not something an American court can get involved in. Tonight, the attorneys for the Garcias answered back, saying that the church’s request is unfair (the church has already filed its allotted 25-page response to the Garcias’ original complaint) and, once again, argued that the Garcias are suing over fraud, not religious beliefs. We have both documents. Continue reading SCIENTOLOGY TO FEDERAL COURT: Let Us Refute The Garcia Declarations, And Then Butt Out of Our Religion Advertisement
 Tom Cruise, KSW! Claire, it looks like this week’s course is going to continue to build on what we’ve encountered before. CLAIRE: Yes, “Student Hat” is the big daddy of the BSM — the Basic Study Manual. It’s like the end-all course on study tech, and after you’ve done Student Hat and Method 1 word clearing, you’re categorized as a “Fast Flow student” and you don’t have to get so many star-rate checkouts. Continue reading Claire Headley Tells Us How to Keep Scientology Working
 Marty Rathbun in his RTC days On Monday evening, Luis and Rocio Garcia filed more than a dozen documents with the court in their federal fraud lawsuit against the Church of Scientology. There’s a lot of really interesting stuff in them, including declarations by Luis Garcia and others, as well as current price lists and bills from Scientology’s private cruise ship, the Freewinds. The Garcias are responding to the church’s previous request that federal judge James Whittemore dismiss the lawsuit and compel the Garcias to participate in Scientology’s internal arbitration procedures. This has been a successful strategy for the church in the past when ex-members have sued for the return of money they put on account for services they never received. Now, the Garcias are making the case that Scientology’s arbitration scheme is inherently unfair, and its refund policies are fraudulent. And they’re doing it through a series of declarations by longtime former church members and officials, including the man who was once the second-highest-ranking executive in the organization, Mark “Marty” Rathbun. Continue reading GARCIAS RESPOND TO SCIENTOLOGY: YOU’RE A BIG RIPOFF
 Margery Wakefield surprised us this week by sending us a new affidavit that she decided to put into the public record.
We certainly remembered an affidavit she made in 1993. Margery had startling things to say about working as a volunteer for Scientology’s intelligence operations, the Guardian’s Office, back in the 1970s and early 1980s. Now, she’s revealed even more about her time in Scientology. And though she says it was difficult for her, this time she’s going public with a shocking part of her past: she says the Church of Scientology forced her to have six abortions during her time as a member. Continue reading Margery Wakefield Has Something to Say About Scientology
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This promises to be an amazing week here at the Underground Bunker. On Tuesday, we’re told, the Oklahoma legislature may finally approve a new law that will put Scientology’s drug rehab flagship center in that state, Narconon Arrowhead, under stricter state control (and may actually put it out of business). Another big story we’re following — Luis Garcia’s federal fraud lawsuit in Tampa — may produce a huge finding from Judge James Whittemore about Scientology’s insistence about religious arbitration.
