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 Welcome to our ongoing project, where we blog a 1950 first edition of Scientology’s bible, Dianetics, with the help of ex-Scientologist, Bay Area lawyer, blogger, and author Vance Woodward. Go here for the first post in the series.
Vance, in the last chapter, Hubbard’s cryptic examples and use of passive voice led us to wonder if he wasn’t describing his own mental instability and physical ailments, masked as examples of unnamed patients. We couldn’t shake that feeling as he took us into this next chapter, “Prenatal Experience and Birth,” which has to be the most disturbing so far. Continue reading Your Life as Sperm or Egg: L. Ron Hubbard’s Mad Genius
 Hip, Hip, Hooray! Today is March 13, which every Scientologist considers the most important day of the year. It was on this day in 1911 that Lafayette Ronald Hubbard emerged into the world with plenty of prenatal engrams and a burning desire to change the world.
The Church of Scientology always puts on a great bash for LRH, and this year, for scheduling reasons, official celebrations won’t be held in Clearwater, Florida and Los Angeles for several more days. (If you happen to be going, we’d love to get some eyewitness reports.) Even though those events are a few days away, we think we know what they’re going to frost the cakes with this time around. Once again, church members have been told that Super Power is coming this year! Which is, of course, what they were told last year, and the year before that. But this time, they mean it! After the jump, we have evidence of the latest promises. So grab a party hat and a cold beverage and let’s toast the Commodore on his 102nd! Continue reading What Could L. Ron Hubbard Use on His 102nd Birthday? How About a Little SUPER POWER! Advertisement
 Last week, Claire Headley started us out on our journey to train as Scientologists. In 2005, Claire and her husband Marc escaped from Scientology’s International Base after many years as “Sea Org” workers. She spent years working with Scientology’s “tech,” and was trusted to oversee the auditing of Tom Cruise. This week, she helps us learn how to stare for a really long time
Claire, last week we took one of Scientology’s “personality tests” and found out we have all kinds of problems. So this week, we’re going to start our first course at the church. What’s it all about, and what does it cost? Continue reading Scientology Starts Out as Staring Contests
Some remarkable documents hit the Internet yesterday. They appear to be actual scripts used by employees who answer the phone numbers listed at drug rehab information websites with generic-sounding names. The websites claim to deliver impartial advice about drug rehabilitation programs, but many of them are in fact front operations for Scientology’s rehab network, Narconon. According to the scripts — as well as confirmation by several former employees — the people who answer these phone calls are instructed to do everything they can to convince a family to send a potential patient to a Narconon center (and they earn a large bounty for doing so). It’s the first step in Narconon’s deceptive business model, which has come under intense scrutiny in the past year because of deaths at centers in Oklahoma and Georgia. Before patients arrive at the centers, however, they must be convinced to go there. And that’s where these scripts come in. Continue reading LEAKED: Scripts Spell Out How Scientology Directs the Unsuspecting to Its Rehab Network
 On Sundays, we enjoy showing you the latest Scientology mailers and fliers that have been forwarded to us by our worldwide tipsters network.
This week, we have another entertaining collection of what we call Sunday Funnies, including a call for help that indicates just what sort of trouble the church finds itself in these days. We think you’ll agree that our first flier contains some of the strangest wording we’ve seen in a while. But we also think our Funnies this week may be overshadowed by today’s SMERSH Madness matchup, which is the heartbreaker of the first round: we don’t envy you the choice you have to make in today’s voting! Continue reading Hurry, Scientology Needs Your PR Help!
 In 1990, author Jon Atack published what is still one of the very best books on L. Ron Hubbard and Scientology, A Piece of Blue Sky. Atack now has a new edition of the book out, and it reminded us what an encyclopedic resource he is. So join us as we rely on Jon’s expertise to 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, it struck us (based on what you wrote in Blue Sky) that you and Paul Haggis had about the same reaction to Scientology’s most legendary stop on the Bridge, Operating Thetan Level III. For those new to the subject, we’ll summarize that material in a moment, but we wanted to know, what are the range of reactions that Scientologists tend to have when they encounter OT III? And how literal are church members supposed to take it (even if some ex-church members are now calling it metaphorical)? Continue reading Scientology Mythbusting with Jon Atack: Xenu the Galactic Overlord, Part 1!
 Our international tipsters have been busy lately, and this morning we thought we’d take a look at some of the Scientology stories making headlines around the world.
A few days ago, we read about yet another Scientology front group targeting very young children. In this case, the church’s anti-psychiatry front, the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR), is targeting Australian kindergartens. Also, we have an update on the situation in Sweden, where a newspaper continues a hard-hitting investigation of Scientology infiltration of an elementary school. And we also have some interesting news from South Africa. All that, plus this morning’s SMERSH Madness after the jump! Continue reading Scientology Targets Aussie Kindergartners, Swedish Grade Schoolers
 The Underground Bunker has learned that Gary Smith, CEO of Scientology’s flagship drug rehab facility, Narconon Arrowhead, has been stripped of his drug counselor certification by the National Association of Forensic Counselors.
The NAFC’s CEO and president, Karla Taylor, confirmed today that her organization has sent out letters that suspend or revoke Certified Chemical Dependency Counselor (CCDC) certifications to numerous employees of Narconon programs in Oklahoma and Georgia — two facilities that have been the center of controversy after patient deaths, criminal investigations, and multiple lawsuits. Taylor says she has confirmation that Smith has received his revocation notice. Mary Rieser has also lost her CCDC, but the former Narconon Georgia executive director may have bigger problems with the state continuing a criminal insurance fraud probe of the facility. Continue reading NARCONON CEO GARY SMITH LOSES COUNSELOR CERTIFICATION
 Welcome to our ongoing project, where we blog a 1950 first edition of Scientology’s bible, Dianetics, with the help of ex-Scientologist, Bay Area lawyer, blogger, and author Vance Woodward. Go here for the first post in the series.
[ALSO TODAY: Below, we have analysis of the Garcia federal fraud lawsuit from attorney Scott Pilutik, and our first SMERSH Madness match that features an online forum — ESMB!] After that last chapter, with Hubbard’s exploration of perversion, it’s only natural that the next one, “Emotions and the Dynamics,” would prove to be something of a letdown. But there are some good passages here for us to explore. At this point, things are really getting thick as we’re moving into second- and third-order make-believe, and Hubbard assumes that we’ve forgotten how earlier layers of this fantasy were formed. It was clear, for example, when he first introduced the idea of “Zones” of survival that they were arbitrary estimates of an organism’s relative health. And from that, he pulled some numbers out of the air to begin describing “tone levels” of emotion that go with them. Many pages later, those guesses have now become scientific-sounding, hard rules about how someone experiences life. Of course, if you get to invent the conditions that plague a life, then you can just as easily invent the methods for how to cure them. Continue reading Blogging Dianetics, Part 10: Killing the Grizzly Advertisement
 We’ve just got our hands on the Church of Scientology’s response to the federal fraud lawsuit filed by Luis and Rocio Garcia.
As we expected, Scientology is asking federal judge James Whittemore to compel the Garcias to accept Scientology’s own internal arbitration system to resolve this dispute, and throw it out of federal court. As in previous cases, Scientology will be trying to convince Whittemore that the Garcias signed various agreements that they would resolve matters through Scentology’s own “ethics” system. And any attempt for a civil court to intervene would be a violation of the church’s First Amendment rights. After the jump, we have the 25-page document. Continue reading Scientology Response to Federal Lawsuit: Force The Garcias to Use Church Arbitration
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Welcome to our ongoing project, where we blog a 1950 first edition of Scientology’s bible, Dianetics, with the help of ex-Scientologist, Bay Area lawyer, blogger, and author Vance Woodward. Go here for the first post in the series.
