Beach donkeys? Why don't we have a tradition like that over here? We could use some more donkeys on our beaches.

I also have a simple solution for their problem: Replace the donkeys with Mammoth Asses. Just think of the puns.

Also, I want a zorse.

1. Owwwwww....

If she was in pain and there was no way to alleviate it, sure, killing herself seems reasonable. If she just didn't like the way she looked or the fact that she lost her sight, etc., then I'm a bit more skeptical. Either way, though, she should've been able to (legally) decide for herself.

2. An interesting idea. Hopefully they don't fuck it up.

3. Conservatives don't like school?

4. Awesome.

5. I heard llamas and alpacas do a better job at this.

1. First, I want this book.

Second:

[O]striches were thought to have a huge appetite for iron. One of them died in the Tower after being fed more than 80 nails.

2. Small (and scary as hell) world.

3. A pretty detailed account of how a parent applied Scientology to "curing" his son of autism. Don't get me wrong -- I'm happy for the kid, if he's happy himself, and for the parents, who seem happier with/for their son after applying their pseudo-medical techniques to him. But that won't stop me from criticizing.

For me, my 20 years of slave labor as a Scientology and Sea Org staff, with its countless 85 hour work weeks and 16 hours days, all done for little or no pay, except for Training, Processing and Knowledge and the tooth and nail struggle to overcome dozens of brutal Technical programs that seemed designed to make all but the toughest 1% fail, on that count alone, have paid off.

So this guy is deeply indoctrinated. Of course he's gonna think any success is due to Scientology. He probably already attributes everything else good in his life to it.

On applying False Data Stripping to parents of and professionals who work with autistic kids:

False ideas to be gotten rid of are concepts that the unresponsive autistic child is “unaware” and that Enforced control (or any other form of Violence) is ever going to prove beneficial. Also false concepts about communication, life and control may require addressing as well.

You don't need Scientology to do this. This just sounds like re-framing the kid's abilities in your mind, which any parent and any professional worth their fee should do in the first place.

The next layer consists of having a complete ability and desire to communicate with the individual without any bias of any kind and without any evaluation (even those made privately in one’s own mind). This is a true test of pure “OT communication” without any vias.

Again, nothing specific to Scientology here. He just slaps on the "OT communication" label at the end there to fit this step into his preferred framework.

In many cases the response of the Autistic is non-verbal. It can be, at times, almost as hard to perceive an answer as it is while doing a “Comatose person assist”.

Oh my god. You're saying they apply TRs and auditing to comatose people?? Good lord. How do they charge them for said services? Do their families pony up? Those poor, poor people....

While it is true enough that Autism can be defined as an inability of the person to communicate with his environment, the truth of the matter is that it in the case of Autism it is not the Thetan (or Being) who has trouble communicating, it is the Thetan + Body that has trouble.

Huh. So the Body has sensory processing problems, but the Thetan doesn't?

Out of communication-ness is what bothers parents and therapists about Autistic children.

To the child, he knows damn well he has a problem with communication. Only a complete boob would be unaware of that fact. He wants to communicate using the “via” of his body and he cant. That becomes a PROBLEM.

Well, yes, communication is a common problem for people with autism.

Notice he says "child," not "person" or "individual." In his mind, I suppose Scientology can cure all cases of autism and therefore no one has to reach adulthood uncured....

I disagree that all people with autism are aware of their communication difficulties at all times. It varies. How many autistic people has this guy met? Only his son?

Also, I don't think all autistic people want to communicate in the same sense that neurotypical people do. And I don't think they all want to communicate with their bodies, necessarily, either.

The most lasting results are accomplished when a minimum of 15 hours a week are spent personally with the child. Weeks of 25-35 hours produced the improvements. As the child reaches a new plateau, he may stall, or even begin to regress. When this occurs, it is best to take a break for several weeks and let the child adjust to his new level of awareness until he is comfortable. After several years, as the child improves and matures, the amount of work done can gradually drop, as long as the child is continuing to make good progress.

The same can be said for any therapeutic or educational program.... How can that much dedicated one-on-one time with anyone who's truly interested in the child's progress not result in improvement, regardless of their methodology?

As far as the cause of Autism, I can’t say at this point. What little I did of research[....]

Yeah, we can tell you haven't done much research into autism in general....

A non-Scientologese version of this article is being published in a number of specialized publications dealing with Autism.

I believe it. He makes some good points, but like I said, none are exclusive to Scientology. And none are new to anyone familiar with typical behavioral intervention.

4. Ha. A good idea.

"Recall a traumatic experience."

I think about puppies and rainbows.

Rosemary points to the E-Meter. "Look! You can see the traumatic experience registering here. Our courses can help eliminate the pain caused by that memory. Now think of a pleasant experience."

I imagine a nuclear holocaust.

"The E-Meter records how you are content with that thought. Now let me give you the personality test."

...

"We have courses which can help you deal with your childhood traumas and depression," she says.

"But Dieter's music is about childhood traumas and depression. Listen to the album A Coffin Is Home."

"Our courses can make your music that much better. You'll find yourself writing about brand new things."

"If Franz Kafka were not depressed, would his writing be just as good?"

Rosemary's smile grows. She thinks she's going to gain ground in her argument.

"I think his lyrics would be even better. He would have a whole list of new things to write about!"

I tell her to listen to his latest album, The Metamorphosis.

5. Good lord.

"Only two legs and his skull were left," the report said.

1. Not that it says much about Scientology and its validity (being ad hominem and all), but here's some info on its founder, The Great and Mighty Hubbard.

His followers assert that he is not only the reincarnation of Buddha but also Maitreya, who according to Buddhist legend will lead the world to enlightenment.

I thought all religions and philosophies (except Scientology, of course) are false images implanted into Body Thetans during Incident II? Presumably, the followers mentioned above hadn't reached OT III and gotten access to that information yet.

Many outlandish claims were made by Hubbard about his achievements while in the U.S. Navy. For instance, he bragged that he had been the first returned casualty from the Far east. In fact, he was shipped to Australia in December 1941, and he sufficiently antagonised his superiors to be returned to the U.S. after only a few months.

That's one way to get out of military service, I suppose. Annoy your superiors into submission.

Hubbard managed to involve a number of craft in a 55-hour battle against what he believed to be two Japanese submarines. The incident was reviewed by Admiral Fletcher who pronounced "an analysis of all reports convinces me that there was no submarine in the area ...The Commanding Officers of all ships except the PC-815 (commanded by Hubbard) state they had no evidence of a submarine and do not think a submarine was in the area."

Hubbard completed this "shakedown cruise" by firing on a fortunately uninhabited Mexican island.

Ha. Awesome. He just wanted to play cowboys and Indians. Come on.

In October 1947, when according to later accounts he had "cured" himself through Dianetics, Hubbard admitted to suicidal tendencies and begged for psychiatric help in a letter to the Veterans Administration.

Heh. Perhaps his bad experience here led to his later hatred of all things psychiatric?

Hubbard continued to perform black magic rituals and started to use self hypnosis, confiding to his notebook such hypnotic affirmations as "all men are my slaves".

Useful preparation for auditing, I'd say.

Hubbard was already addicted to the barbiturate drugs originally prescribed for his ulcer. His drug use continued during his Scientology career, even though he was to sponsor the Scientology anti-drug group Narconon. Although Dianetics claims to overcome compulsions with ease, Hubbard was unable to kick the tobacco habit, and chain-smoked over 80 cigarettes a day.

Do what The Hubbard preaches, not what He practices.

Marrying hypnotic technique to research long abandoned by Freud, Hubbard came up with Dianetics.

Interesting. Dianetics is a Freudian tribute band.

Hubbard redefined the existing term "engram" as a label for traumatic incidents where the individual has lost consciousness. Dianetics: the Modern Science of Mental Health proclaims that by "erasing" the engrams, the individual is freed from compulsions, obsessions, neuroses, and such conditions as heart trouble, poor eyesight, asthma, colour blindness, allergies, stuttering, poor hearing, sinusitis, high blood pressure, dermatitis, migraine, ulcers, arthritis, morning sickness, the common cold, conjunctivitis, alcoholism and tuberculosis. Hubbard soon claimed cures for cancer and leukaemia.

What, no athlete's foot or hemorrhoids?

Hubbard's following diminished as people realised that his claims were grossly exaggerated, and with the collapse of the first Dianetic Foundations and Hubbard's second marriage. Sara Hubbard charged that her husband had tortured her with sleep deprivation, drugs and physical attacks. She claimed that he had once strangled her until the eustachian tube to her left ear ruptured, leaving her hearing inpaired. Hubbard fled to Cuba, after seizing their baby daughter, in what proved to be a successful attempt to silence Sara.

It just gets better and better.

It was only in the late 1960s, with increasing criticism of its methods by western governments, that Scientology retreated behind the trappings of religion.

Of course.

The first stage of recruitment is to focus the person's attention on the most distressing areas of his or her life (the "ruin"). [...] Any intense emotion tends to overwhelm critical thinking. [...] he recruiter then plays upon the person's fear that the condition will worsen. Then the "solution" of Scientology is offered.

...

Scientology indoctrination usually begins with the Communication Course Training Routines or `"TRs". These are supposed to enhance the ability to communicate, but have been called by one expert "the most overt form of hypnosis used by any destructive cult".

...

the recruit might well go on to the "Hubbard Key to Life Course" (at a cost of[[sterling]]4,000 or $8,000). This supposedly undercuts all previous education by returning the individual to the basics of literacy. Factually, because it treats all clients as pre-school children, it tends to cause age regression, making people yet more susceptible to Scientology.

...

In 1959, Hubbard introduced "security checking", where Scientologists are interrogated, having to answer long, prepared lists of questions about their moral transgressions. The E-meter is used as a lie detector throughout these "sessions". A careful record is kept of all confessions, and this has proved to be a highly effective means of silencing dissidents.

...

Re: OT III and the Incident II story:

Anyone hearing of this material will supposedly become ill and die within days. However, towards the end of his life, Hubbard wanted to release the story (certainly one of his best) as a movie, to be called "Revolt in the Stars".

I somehow missed the part about making a movie. Imagine if every major religion made a movie version of itself....

"Disconnection" is virtually identical to the "shunning" practised by certain extreme fundamentalist groups.

And how is Scientology not an "extreme fundamentalist group"?

The RPF is still in use in Scientology organizations throughout the world. Those who fail to comply with orders, make mistakes or simply fall short of their production quotas are put onto the RPF. RPFers can only speak when spoken to, they are meant to eat table scraps, sleep even shorter hours than other staff, and comply immediately and unquestioningly with any order. They work a full day, doing physical labour, and are then expected to spend five hours confessing and hearing the confession of their RPF partner.

Only when they completely accept the authority of their superiors are they allowed to leave the RPF. Taming an individual in this way can take up to two years.

...

Speaking of a hypothetical splinter group in 1955, Hubbard wrote, "if you discovered that some group calling itself `precept processing' had set up ... in your area, you would do all you could to make things interesting for them ... The law can be used very easily to harass, and enough harassment ... will generally be sufficient to cause his [sic] professional decease. If possible, of course, ruin him utterly."

What a charming man.

For eight years, from 1967 to 1975, Hubbard and his retinue (numbering several hundred) plied the Mediterranean and the Atlantic in a flotilla of unseaworthy vessels. The incompetence of the crews led to many accidents.

This would make a great sitcom. At least a made-for-TV movie.

Hubbard dismissed Buddhism through his statement that "No culture in the history of the world, save the thoroughly depraved and expiring ones, has failed to affirm the existence of a Supreme Being."

Where does Scientology affirm or even discuss a Supreme Being? OT VIII and beyond? You're only allowed to know about the Supreme Being after paying around $400k?

Also, Hubbard needed to read some basic cultural anthropology.

Scientology contradicts the teachings of all of the major religions by propounding that great wealth is a virtue, a measure of spiritual success.

That doesn't contradict some versions of Evangelical Christianity nowadays....

As Hubbard put it, "When you let a person give nothing for something you are factually encouraging crime".

Heh. How precisely does one encourage factually?

Explanation of Hubbard's work is forbidden; the materials must be quoted exactly.

...

failure to achieve spectacular success (i.e., euphoric states) is always considered to be the fault of either the auditor or the preclear, never of the techniques.

...

"Advanced Courses [in Scientology) are the most valuable service on the planet. Life insurance, houses, cars, stocks, bonds, college savings, all are transitory and impermanent ... There is nothing to compare with Advanced Courses. They are infinitely valuable and transcend time itself." -L. Ron Hubbard speaking of his "Operating Thetan Courses" Flag Mission Order 375.

...

Scientologists speak and think in an elaborate language created by Hubbard (Scientology dictionaries run to over 1,000 pages of definitions).

Well, it's not a language. It's a lexicon. But close enough.

2. SECURITY CHECK CHILDREN
HCO WW Security Form 8

...

1. WHAT HAS SOMEBODY TOLD YOU NOT TO TELL?

...

15. HAVE YOU EVER BEEN MEAN OR CRUEL TO AN ANIMAL, BIRD OR FISH?

16. HAVE YOU EVER FORGOTTEN TO GIVE FOOD OR WATER TO A PET ENTRUSTED TO YOUR CARE?

...

19. DO YOU HAVE A SECRET?

...

34. WHO HAVE YOU MADE GUILTY?

Gee. That question isn't leading at all....

35. HAVE YOU EVER DONE SOMETHING YOU SHOULDN'T WHEN YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE IN BED OR ASLEEP?

Oy.

Relatedly, I wonder what Hubbard decided Scientology's views on sex were?

Since children are regarded as an unnecessary overhead in the Sea Org, young women who get pregnant are usually pressured into aborting their unborn children.

I presume, then, that birth control wasn't/isn't frowned upon.

70. HAVE YOU EVER CRIED WHEN YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE?

It's like he designed the questions specifically to make children insecure and psychologically unstable. And if they become more docile and suggestible as a result, that's just an unexpected bonus, sure....

3. An English translation of the OT III material.

Anyone who encounters this material without having undertaken Scientology courses up to OT 2 will supposedly die from pneumonia.

You've been warned.

Hubbard was taking barbiturates and drinking heavily when he wrote this material, according to letters he wrote at the time which are kept from scientologists by the management of Scientology.

Why didn't Hubbard just hold himself up as an example of how drugs are bad?

OT III glossary for those who have the original materials but cannot make head nor tail of them:

...

cognite - realize.
comm laggy - (comm - communication) hesitant.

I'm going to incorporate the word "laggy" into my daily vocabulary.

Interiorization processes - designed to return an "exterior" being into his body.

I assume this isn't a process anyone would want inflicted upon them?

R6 - the "reactive mind", supposedly created by the "OT 3 implant" or "incident 2".

I still haven't figured out what the number 6 has to do with anything.

theta bop - E-meter reaction, supposed to indicate that the thetan or spirit is going in and out of the body.

A dance?

TR - training routine. Role play drill (which can be practiced to hypnotic excess, leading hallucination, euphoria, heightening of colour and sound and a feeling of floating). The most famous of these is TR 8 where scientologists shout "stand up" and "sit down" at an ashtray.

Hee. What would happen if someone did that in a public place?

4. Going more deeply into the E-meter and its uses.

5. Sad!

Very Space Opera

1. Those are some damn expensive books and cassette tapes.

2. Every once in awhile when I hear someone say "OT" in the context of therapy, my mind interprets it as "OT" in the context of Hubbardism.

Hmm. I wonder what The Great and Mighty Hubbard's take on sensory integration therapy would be.

On an unrelated note:

All thetans on this planet and on twenty-one nearby stars have Incident II and 'R6' in common. Hubbard refers to these twenty-two planets as 'the Confederation'. [From above "OT" link.]

Somehow this tidbit escaped my attention during my last Scientology-related reading binge. What exactly is the function of this interplanetary Confederation, if any? Does Hubbard ever identify said stars and/or planets? Did he also claim astronomy as one of his numerous areas of expertise?

although 'mocking something up' usually means 'imagining it', in Scieno-lingo it means more than a mental picture; it is supposedly a self-created object; it is a thing which one can be. Operating Thetans are, again supposedly, able to 'mock up' a picture that has dimensions and location in space and time.

Someday I might have to do a specific analysis of Scientology's co-opting of existing words/phrases and re-defining them for its own purposes. We already know it's a common brainwashing technique, but I wonder if there are any interesting patterns in how they manipulate language. Even better, how does Scientology jargon work in non-English languages?

On the mental imagines implanted into thetans during Incident II:

The pictures contain God, the Devil, angels, space opera, theaters, helicopters, a constant spinning, a spinning dancer, trains and various scenes very like modern England. You name it, it's in this implant we call in its entirely "R6".

Somewhat telling that Hubbard includes "space opera" in this list of false knowledge. Are we to deduct that his very own space opera is a false implant as well?

The thetans were gathered on "electronic ribbons", packaged together as clusters and given 36 days of implanting, to render them servile and incapable of decision.

Try replacing "thetans" with "preclears," "electronic ribbons" with "Church of Scientology," and "implanting" with "auditing." Sound familiar?

In Hubbard's own words:

Body Thetans are just Thetans. When you get rid of one he goes off and possibly squares around, picks up a body or admires daisies.

Ha. Admires daisies. Why hasn't the image of a daisy been worked into the symbolism of Scientology?

Thus we get the concept of a "black theta body". This would be actual BT's stuck to a thetan plus pictures of BT's stuck to a thetan.

How...recursive.

Incident II sometimes forms gigantic clusters. In such there is a leader, an alternate leader and several (eight to eighteen) more.

How numerically specific. Also, Body Thetans are starting to remind me of barnacles that need to be scraped off the hulls of boats.

Incident 2 Patter: DETERMINE IF A LOYAL OFFICER, RESIDENT OF EARTH, or FROM ANOTHER PLANET.

I don't quite know why, but that just kills me. It's like you're asking the BT to identify which class its RPG character belongs to. Also, do BTs have gender identities??

About 1/2 of the BTs come off and leave and go live their own lives by doing the lower Bridge right, and the other 1/2 come off here by doing OT III correctly.

Yet the Church still requires you to pay for further courses all the way up to OT VIII....

3. Fun with Kern!

“You know gays are infiltrating city councils,” she said. “Did you know, Eureka Springs, anybody been there to the Passion Play? Have you heard that the city council of Eureka Springs is now controlled by gays?"

Hahaha. Oh noes! Not Eureka Springs! One of the nation's top 25 Small Arts Communities. Imagine gay people living there! How dare they take on leadership roles in their own communities!

Matter of fact, studies show no society that has totally embraced homosexuality has lasted more than, you know, a few decades.

Captain Anthropology, your services are needed....

Anthropology to the rescue! Homosexuality has been around, accepted to varying degrees, in various cultures for thousands of years. And it's not like the almost exhaustive number of animals that perform homosexual acts all go extinct after a few decades, but I suppose such base creatures are exempt from the Law of God.

4. A Day in the Life of a Scientologist on OT 7

So I cruise around in my mind[,] check through my body, above it, around it higher, lower, inside of it, mmmmmmwhere is this BT? (Usually I was able to locate what I thought were BT's Pretty easily.) Ok.....one foot to my right....meter Falls.

So Body Thetans could in fact be located some distance away from the body?

BT: I am very upset because I am tired of people asking other OT's if they can heal people. I'm not healed so this question upsets me.

Heh.

Left Shoulder- Fall. (meter reads, someone is there)

(me) "What are you?"

(BT) "A broken bone"--Fall

(me) "I'd like to indicate you are a broken bone".

BT: Cool.....blow. F/n.

Ha. So to get rid of these Body Thetans, one need only 'indicate' its location/identity to make it go away?

And the following indicates how badly the CoS wants to keep its upper-level information away from the masses:

Me: Damn!! I forgot to lock that stupid window. It's closed, My entire house is locked up...this is crazy to have to do lower conditions for this one window no one can even get to.....but per the Security pack, I violated
it...so I'll call and see.

Now you have to Call your Director of Processing, in Clearwater, and tell them. They send you to "Ethics" on the phone, and you are assigned "Treason" and told to write it up, and call them once you get up to "liability". Then you have to "Make up the
Damage" by doing some work needed, and get an OK to return to OT 7.

5. HCO BULLETIN OF 11 DECEMBER 1978
[Meaning straight from Hubbard's mouth, or at least OK'd by him.]

Unblown BTs or clusters, or BTs and clusters messsed up on OT III, are sometimes at a distance of 6 - 8 - 10 feet out from the body.

This is a perimeter you wouldn't normally think to handle. They blew out to this perimeter and stuck there.

Huh. I guess so.

BTs or clusters who tried to blow but hung up against other BTs or clusters or ridges or bones.

Well shit. BTs can want to check out but get tripped up by your ribcage??

After handling a BT or cluster do not recheck or repeat the Repair list line, as doing so would invalidate the fact that you have handled it, and would restimulate others, cause others to mock up (copy) what was just handled.

It seems that moderation is sometimes encouraged even in the wacky world of Scientology.

Sometimes a BT or cluster will answer at first with a wrong item or items. Then there won't be any valence shift, nor will there be any blow. Finding the correct item (the valence the BT or cluster is obsessively being), will shift the BT or cluster out of that valence, and remaining steps of acknowledging the item, and asking "Who are you?" will produce the cognition: "I'm me", and it will blow.

BTs lie?! That sucks. But forcing them to acknowledge their true identity sets them free. Sounds like an after-school special.

Example 1 :

"What are you ? "

A tree

A tree trunk

A branch

A twig

A broken limb LF - F/N (The item)

Example 2:

"What are you ? "

A sword

An arena

A crowd

A wild animal

A lion

Dust

Blood

A dying man

A gladiator F - F/N (The item)

Whoa. I could have some dust or a lion or a gladiator attached somewhere to my body?

It is imperative, mandatory, that the Flub, Cram, Retread System be used on this listing technique on NED for OTs, and no C/S, Cramming Officer, nor Tech/Qual executive may get reasonable about this, nor allow any persuasion or pressure to undermine or counter this system.

Ha. I love the jargon-y use of the phrase "get reasonable" here. Reason and rationality will not be tolerated!

If despite the above handlings the same person persists in repeating the same errors, then you up against a case situation described in HCOB 8 MAR 62 THE BAD"AUDITOR", and HCOB 15 MAR 62 SUPPRESSORS, and such a person must be removed from Tech/Qual lines for the sake of others.

Of course it's always operator error if you require acknowledgment of the infallibility of the tech.

The following is an example which illustrates this routine, taken from the case history of a Pre-OT who was physically ill and under constant heavy PT stress.

1st session, 1st day.

The auditor began flying the rudiments. Not all ruds were flown as the Pre-OT brightened up and had a win on spotting the source of an upset. (None of the ruds flown in this session read as belonging to aBT or cluster.) Time: 10 mins.

...

4th session, 3rd day.

The ruds were flown (very little on ruds this session), then the NOTs Repair List was continued and the second line taken up resulted in a BD from TA 4.5 to 3.0 and a line charge. The session was ended with the Pre-OT in high spirits, F/N, VGIs and joking at Exams. Time: 0=2E16 mis.

(Of interest is that the BD above resulted from the Pre-OT recalling a this life person who "thought he was everyone, All is one".)

At this point the Pre-OT was put onto a biochemical handling in addition to the auditing. This consisted of: vitamins, minerals, and Cal/Mag to remedy deficiency; freshly squeezed fruit juice as Vit C issaid to go out of fruit juice within half an hour; and because the Pre-OT was under- weight and had been off oils and fat, a supplement of a blend of oils (soy, walnut, peanut and safflower) preceded by taking a balanced combination of enzymes a few minutes before eating to help digest the oil/fat. These were taken as a supplement to te Pre-OT's diet.

...

7th session, 6th day.

(After the last session pain turned back on again.)

In this session the auditor began by locating the area of the body where the pain had turned on, then identifying it as coming from a cluster. The cluster didn't answer up and so was run on "Hello & OK" until it woke up and came into communication. Then it was blown with NOTs Valence Technique, with a large TA BD, wide F/N, VGIs, Pre-OT line charging and amused.

...

Despite extreme and heavy stress on the Pre-OT from day to day, a full recovery to health was accomplished, with no further relapse since, and all of this in but one week !

So. Much. Jargon.

This doesn't apply just to NOTs, one time a girl who was sick - nigh unto death - and in looking it over it was obvious this girl was sitting on a withhold from her parents. There was an assess- ment of the ruds, and on the reading one I asked "What might that be?" and next thing there was charge flying off all over the place and she got a resurgence on that alone.

...

A pc one time got sick after a session during some auditing and turned on a 104.5 degree temperature and still raising and he was about to be rushed off to a hospital. The C/S looked over the folder and made up a little assessment of about eight items that it could be and had it assessed. The biggest read was on "wrong item" and this was indicated. The TA BDed from about 5.0 to about 2.5 and this guy sat up in bed and said "Oh yeah, so that's what it was!". His temperature turned off and that was that. No further action taken.

...

Example:

HCOB 20.12.79

Auditor: "Is there an ARC break?" (no read)

"Is there a present time problem?" Fall.

Pre-OT: Answers stating the PTP.

Auditor: Acknowledges the answer.

Auditor: "Is that present time problem yours? (Fall),

a BT's? (no read), a cluster's? (no read")

The auditor indicates what read.

This PTP will either F/N (if it hasn't

already) or it is taken E/S to F/N.

(Note: If you get into a tangle ask "Is it also yours ?", "Is it also a BT's ?", "Is it also a cluster's?", even "Is it also theirs ?".

There's a possibility it could belong to everyone present.

Keep in mind that "everyone present" means one person (the preclear or pre-OT) and all the BTs (Body Thetans) and BT clusters attached to his/her body. And remember that BTs are the unsettled, hypnotized souls of possibly-extraterrestrial beings that were abducted, brought to Earth, and murdered millions of years ago.

I believe that's enough of that for one day.

It's Scientology Day!

1. If this is valid, it's pretty damn hilarious due to the sheer amount of nerve one would need to make a statement like this:

The practice of declaring people FAIR GAME will cease.

FAIR GAME may not appear on any Ethics Order. It causes bad public relations.

This P/L does not cancel any policy on the treatment or handling of an SP.

Ha. We avoid the previous terminology due to bad PR, yet the policy referred to by said terminology remains unchanged. If we keep changing the name, maybe they won't notice??

2. So they're against not only their detractors but also people who don't give a shit either way?

I'm probably mis-using the term, but this is one of the hallmarks of what I tend to call 'fundamentalism.' Insistence that your beliefs/methods are correct and everything else is wrong. It's the opposite of pluralism. Which, when taken too far, can be just as idiotic. It's that whole moderation issue again. Gets you every time.

3. One learns Hubbard's so-called truth about why human beings are so limited in their abilities, and what can be done to correct this.

Limited in comparison to what? The superpower-laden space aliens in Hubbard's warped imagination?

Xenu sent out tax audit demands to all these trillions of people. As each one entered the audit centers for the income tax inspections, the people were seized, held down and injected with a mixture of alcohol and glycol, and frozen.

Well, I can't criticize the moral of this story. The IRS is scary.

When Xenu's Air Force had finished dumping the
bodies into the volcanoes, hydrogen bombs were dropped into the volcanoes and
the frozen space aliens were vaporized.

Why would one feel the need to do more than dump someone in a volcano? Wouldn't that do enough damage?

The concept of religion, including God, Christ, Mohammed, Moses etc., were all an implanted false reality that to this very minute are used to control WOGS on Earth.

I can't help but think Hubbard was making a little joke here. After all, his dearest wish was to implant all humans with his 'religion.'

For those who oppose Scientology and stand in their
way like the Lisa McPherson Trust and all Scientology critics, Scientology
promises to do away with them "quietly and without sorrow".

They don't always do such a good job with the 'quietly' part....

The
average cost for Scientology to OT 8 is a mere USD 360,000[.]

Seriously, do any other religions demand this kind of investment for participation? There's begging and tithing, sure, but those aren't Official Policy that prohibits people from joining.

If the
person does not experience the fragmented condition as a "conscious
and literal fact", or if he cannot accept Hubbard's interpretation of
the psychological phenomena expected at this level, the person is
labeled a "bypassed case" and is sent back to redo his lower levels.

And of course has to re-pay for all the courses and auditing required to get back up to speed.

That Scientology publicly protests criticism of their "religious beliefs" is itself dangerously misleading, in my opinion. Hubbard did not characterize the OT 3 incident as a "belief"--he taught it as a factual incident and as a scientifically researched psychological explanation for the state that OT 3's find themselves in at that level.

Heh. So his teachings were "fact" when he addressed his followers, but "belief" when he addressed the government for First Amendment protection and tax exemption.

Hiding the truth about this space opera serves several functions, including, a) recruitment -- few would join if they were told about the alien beliefs up front; b) money -- holding back the information buys time to collect more money from a recruit before the colorful information is revealed; c) control -- holding back the information allows Scientology to use the "tech" to indoctrinate and induce a person not to bolt when they do hear the alien story.

Remember that Scientology breeds irresponsibility and that Scientologists become addicted to that irresponsibility. What else could happen when throughout your experience in Scientology firstly it's "Engrams" and your
reactive mind that are the root cause of your problems; then it's space aliens (BT's); then when you think you have eliminated all your BT's you discover you've got drugged BT's, then sleeping BT's, then unconscious BT's and finally you find that the entirety of the physical universe is a false reality that can be done away with by auditing even more BT's so that you are able to step out of the physical universe and be above matter, energy, space and time.

Scientology abhors criticism so much that it misuses the mantle of religion to promote and justify hatred and bigotry by its members[.]

True. Though if criticism of religion loses its taboo in this country, they'll be screwed.

4. Here, somebody says it better than I did:

Scientology claims to be any of science, business or religion, according whether trying to impress people, charge money, or hide behind some tax-exempt divine right of religions to do and say whatever they please with nobody having the right to criticize them.

Superstitious fear is neither religion, nor ethical business, nor science, and deserves to be challenged.

I have to say, though, that for better or worse, superstitious fear overlaps a hell of a lot more with religion than any of the other areas listed.

n his OT3 statement Hubbard clearly stated Earth as one of the 76 or so planets ruled by Xenu that were suffering human overpopulation, with the Earth's population given at 250 billions. Earth's population in the 1990s is about 5+ billions, giving a present-time human population density only 1/45th that claimed by Hubbard for 75 M.y. ago!

I hadn't ever thought of what a Scientologist's take on evolution would be. I assume they'd be equally contemptuous of both Darwin and Intelligent Design. Though, as far as I know, Hubbard never addressed where humans first came from before they started overpopulating the universe 75 million years ago.

Incident 1, preposterous as an event in its content, is dated ten thousand times older than science dates the universe, (going by "Big Bang" theory).

Heh.

A 1975 bulletin [31] prescribes as a remedy for inability to run past lives, running of expressly imaginary past life incidents, with steering then involved towards accepting these as real and valid.

Oh good. They encourage false recovered memories.

I thus conclude that the Scientology actions of OT3 represent disguised cognitive procedural training that results in fanaticism, and debilitation of mental independence and cognitive functioning of the individual.

OT3 is sold to Clears under menace of getting seriously ill or dying if not done speedily [HCOB 23.12.1971 rev. 1983, sample AOSH letter out and [29].

There is also humiliation to be avoided with recognizing that one has wasted huge amounts of money getting to this secretive stage. Large sums are charged to ensure that this happens.

A number of people have committed suicide as result of OT3.

Dude, you lost me there. That's no way to make an argument. Plenty of people have committed suicide as a result of _____. Fill in the blank. Doesn't prove anything.

5. In arguing to keep the court documents sealed, the church has told its members that it could be physically and spiritually harmful for them to learn about the upper levels of Scientology before they have mastered the preparatory courses. Scientology attorneys have argued that disclosure of the material violates the group's religious freedom.

Hmm. This sounds fishy. Does any other religion have secret upper levels that us plebeians have to be protected from?

What is rarely discussed, however, is Hubbard's secret teachings, which disclose his thoughts on why mankind has been plagued by problems through history, the topic of the disputed documents.

We've been plagued by problems through history? Well, yeah. Who/what hasn't? And from a evolutionary standpoint, humans have been pretty damn successful and problem-free.

Superior Court Judge Alfred L. Margolis, over strong objections, had issued an order Friday making the documents public at 9 a.m. Monday - on a first-come, first-served basis.

Scientologists, by snaking the line through three courthouse hallways, made sure they were the only ones to buy copies of the materials.

Well, you gotta admit their methods are effective.

1. How is it that Jeff Goldblum is always good for a laugh? It's inhuman.

And the best part is, he'd probably think it was funny too. Goldblum is content.

2. Oh. My. Fucking. God.

At least the guy had a sane and civil response to such frothing at the mouth:

Sherman: Thank you for sharing your perspective with me, and I’m sure that if this matter does go to court—

Too bad it wasn't taken in the spirit in which it was given.

Davis: You have no right to be here! We believe in something. You believe in destroying! You believe in destroying what this state was built upon.

All I can do is shake my head. Why do we let people with such ignorance and anger attain positions of power?

3. I agree that this could backfire. If they were working with a group that included believers with similar objections (like Americans United), that'd be better.

4. Welcome to the glamorous world of archaeology!

5. It's looking at me. Make it stop looking at me.

1. Sulloway says four different studies, involving more than 5,000 subjects from five countries, also support this contentious view. "They have shown that first-borns are rated as being more conscientious, less agreeable, less extroverted – in the sense of being fun-loving and excitement-seeking – and less open to experience than later-borns," he says. "Several studies have shown that later-borns are judged to be the 'rebels' of the family and that they are actually more likely to rebel in real life."

Hmm. Definitely not true for my siblings and I, but I suppose it's true for my dad and his siblings.

two Swiss psychologists, Cecile Ernst and Jules Angst

Whoa. Where can I get a last name like that?

Harris explains that the strategies children learn to use at home to get along with siblings are not the same as those they employ outside home and in later life.

Not sure I agree here. Sure, kids behave differently in different social situations, but I doubt the in-home and away-from-home patterns are completely unconnected. Especially for only children who didn't have close cousins or friends of similar age early in life.

"What Sulloway is trying to explain here is the embarrassing fact – embarrassing not just to him but to all believers in the nurture assumption – that only children do not differ in any systematic way from children with siblings," Harris says. "These children have missed out on the experiences that play such an important role in Sulloway's theory: they haven't had to compete with their siblings for parental attention, and they haven't had to learn how to get along (or not get along) with a bossy older sister or a pesky younger brother. And yet their personalities are indistinguishable from those of children with siblings."

I beg to differ. The differences aren't huge, and they tend to disappear as school years progress, but they're there.

2. Oh good. Missouri and Kansas are doing their parts to further implement theocracy in our country.

3. Calm down, people. Jeez.

At her blog at http://itlovesyou.blogspot.com, Ariel Safdie has stated the statue is “intended to create discourse on the role of religion on public property.” Whether or not the statue was put up to ridicule the notion of religion influencing public policy I cannot prove. However, I do think it’s safe to say there are some out there who look at someone allowing his or her faith to influence his or her views on government to be as ridiculous as considering the Flying Spaghetti Monster as a respectable deity.

Um, that is in no way connected to the statement made by the statue's maker. "The role of religion on public property," in my mind, addresses government endorsement of one religion (or any religion) over another (or none). Not whether beliefs influence views on government.

While some may argue the statue was not locally done in effort to mock or belittle Christians, the idea of the spaghetti monster in its original context was proposed to do just that. In other words, the spaghetti monster concept was created to undermine the credibility of Intelligent Design as an alternative theory to Darwinian evolution.

When did "criticize" or "satirize" become synonymous with "undermine"? People criticize theories and ideas in academia all the time without vicious intent to "undermine" or overthrow said theories. Why is religion exempt from this?

In spite of their best efforts to appear as the objective, rational party, those opposed to Intelligent Design and the influence of religion upon the state have shown themselves to not be so “neutral” after all.

Again, confusion with language here. "Objective" and "rational" do not equate with or even imply "neutral".

Upholding something as tangible as the spaghetti monster affirms a connection to an ideology through a symbolic bond. This ideology holds that “separation of church and state” means one must divorce any conviction gained from religious faith from public policy[.]

Again. Complete misunderstanding. That's not what separation of church and state means at all. If you don't know the difference, go do some reading. I don't have the time or energy to elaborate here.

By a fallacious interpretation of the First Amendment, many in our society believe government cannot legislate based on ideas derived from ideologies deemed religious.

Yes, that's a fallacious interpretation. But church-state separationists don't ascribe to that interpretation. Sigh.

Okay. Fine. I'll elaborate briefly. I don't have a problem with someone legislating issues that overlap with religious issues if the resulting law doesn't limit or punish those who don't follow said religion themselves. Since the moral codes of many religions and sects resemble one another, it'd be damn near impossible to make laws without referencing morals that showed up in one religion or another. It's when those morals go beyond common sense and start oppressing people with different beliefs (say, prohibiting same sex marriage, or enforcing abstinence-only sex ed) that the church-state separationists get upset.

4. I just like the icon on the map here.

5. I believe that no linguist has ever said that comprehensibility implies standardness[.]

A nice little piece on language ideology there.

1. Sad.

“I don’t see how any human being could look at them for any prolonged period of time without getting physically ill… I thought I would throw-up if I looked at them any longer.”

First of all, how immature is that? Seriously. Grow up. And get yourself a spine while you're at it.

Second of all, how sheltered is this woman if she's so unused to facial piercings that she can't stomach the sight of them? Do we really want someone so ignorant and naive in a position of leadership?

Thirdly, would she have the same reaction to someone with a non-voluntary facial disfigurement? Or someone with facial modifications condoned or encouraged by their culture? She'd be crucified for that. What's the difference between these situations, really?

2. I don't think I know (or have ever known) Brown's motto. I'm not particularly motivated to look it up, either.

Impactful or not, does a college really need a motto? Quick: What's the slogan of your alma mater? An extremely informal and decidedly unscientific survey indicates that many people don't know.

See?

Reed College's underground slogan is "Communism, Atheism, Free Love." Students at Swarthmore College experience "Guilt Without Sex."

Heh. Imagine, I considered going to both of those schools. Shocking.

If pressed, I'd say Brown's motto would be something like "Figure it out your own damn selves" or "You may be about to make a huge mistake, but we're gonna let you go through with it because it's a learning experience."

3. Finally, a public monument I can stand behind.

More coverage here.

4. I like this kid, even if she gets her prepositions a bit mixed up:

“It’s cool ’cause you can, like, think freely by yourself,” [eight-year-old Jane Kovak] said.

And her parents:

As for Jane, her parents believe that her religious beliefs, or lack thereof, should be up to her.

“They have had many discussions about this, and we’ve had our discussions too,” said her mother. “I think that we just give our view, I always tell Jane that she has to make up her own mind, she has to experience her experiences — figure it out for herself.”

Shocking that I went to the "figure it out for your own damn selves" college, eh?

5. I always did enjoy a good blooper reel.

1. I like the way this is phrased:

Well, a language is a system of practices, not a designed system, so some things are as they are just because of the way they developed over time; there are plenty of anomalies and irregularities in every language.

2. Plastinated squid!

the 21.2-foot-long (6.5-meter-long) sea beast was drained of its fluids and refilled with a polymer. The process caused the animal to shrink by about 7 feet (2.5 meters).

3. Those poor starfish. Did anyone ask them if they wanted to participate in a photo op?

Also, those things look exceedingly slimy. Is that what all starfish look like when they've recently been taken out of the water or is that some strange antarctic adaptation to cold?

4. Ignoring the fact that the headline is not confirmed truth, this is still a disturbing story.

"There is no physical evidence of abuse or neglect," he said.

Yeah. For the kids who are still alive. Well-intentioned neglect is still neglect. Mary Bass was probably well-intentioned in her own mind, after all. [I recognize that there are difference between the two cases, but still....]

Another source elaborated:

She had diabetic ketoacidosis, which means that had she gone to a hospital, doctors could have saved her. For her to get in this condition, she had to have been exhibiting symptoms for quite a long time, but her parents chose to pray away clear signs of distress - nausea, vomiting, excessive thirst, loss of appetite and weakness.

I don't like the idea of parents being forced to ascribe to specific medical philosophies and treatments. But when do common sense and preservation of life override one's right to seek alternative 'treatments' in place of more mainstream ones?

5. If this is true:

Her mother said the girl has a learning disability and was "mentally not a regular 11-year-old."

Then the cop who tased her needs some serious talking-to. And that kid needs to be placed in a school environment where her behavior is better understood.