P.M. Scouting Report: anti-Scientologist suicide, e-meters on EBay

Digg continues to rapidly elevate pretty much every story that's even slightly unflattering for Scientology.

-- A St. Pete Times piece reports on the apparent suicide of longtime anti-Scientology crusader Shawn Lonsdale, who was discovered on Saturday  dead in his home in Clearwater, Fla., Scientology's national nerve center.  Apparently, a hose had been connected to his car's tailpipe into a window of his home.

-- Another Digg link says that Scientology has been trying to keep used e-meters off EBay, but their legal basis for it might not hold water. The Digg title is misleading, though ("Scientology Given Direct Access To eBay Database"). No evidence of that in the piece. 

"In short, the Church of Scientology is at least constructively aware that the e-meters being listed on eBay are authentic, and so have no basis under trademark—or under any other intellectual property basis, for removing these listings."

Michael Shermer examines the oft-discussed question of whether Scientology is a real religion. If so, he suggests, some of the rallying cries of the anti-Scientology group Anonymous -- like ""Honk if You Hate Scientology" -- might be interpreted as hate speech. But Shermer is not quite ready to go there.

It's a sticky wicket, this matter of who gets to decide what's a religion and what isn't. The people? The courts? The IRS? History? All of the above? No wonder starting a religion is such a tough business.

"Anonymous" now has a bunch of faces to go without its name. The loosely bound group of net activists who've got a beef with the Church of Scientology showed up Sunday at the church's largest Los Angeles' locations. The protests were part of a global day of demonstrations against Scientology. Hordes of masked, costumed (and mostly young) picketers showed up in Boston, New York, Toronto, the U.K., Australia and a dozen other locations (thanks wikinews).

Many of the Los Angeles picketers wore the Guy Fawkes masks made popular in the movie "V for Vendetta," and it seemed like every other person was recording the event with a digital camera, camcorder or cellphone.

The protests were peaceful and colorful, with music and chanting (often: "Religion is free -- No Pay Per View" -- a reference to an alleged tiered system whereby the religion's adherents must pay money to gain spiritual clarity).  A near constant stream of horn honks provided the background noise as cars passed the Scientology center on Sunset Boulevard and continued as the mob moved to the so-called Celebrity Center on Hollywood Boulevard.  At least one ambulance and several fire department vehicles honked as they passed.

Security personnel, some wielding video cameras, were stationed at every entrance to the Sunset Boulevard center.  Most wore impassive expressions and, when spoken to (or in some cases, danced with) by rollicking protesters, would betray no more than the wryest of grins.

Protesters were quick to hand leaflets to any cars that slowed or stopped for red lights -- and many drivers freely accepted them.

"Ask a Christian about the Bible; you will be answered," read one leaflet.  "Ask a Scientologist about their text: You will be answered -- after your check clears."

A Fawkes-masked spokesman for Anonymous, who wouldn't give his name but whom several protesters identified as the organizer of the L.A. event, explained one of the group's concrete goals.

"We want set off a government investigation into how they got tax-exempt status," said the man, who said he was in his early 20s.

Scientology was granted the tax-exempt status in 1993 after a protracted battle with the IRS, which for 25 years had maintained that Scientology was a business and not a religion.

When contacted for a comment on the protests, a Scientology spokesperson issued a statement that read, in part: "'Anonymous' is a group of cyber-terrorists who hide their identities behind masks and computer anonymity" and it "is perpetrating religious hate crimes against Churches of Scientology and individual Scientologists for no reason other than religious bigotry." The statement did not mention the Sunday protests.

The protesters Sunday looked mostly young, white and computer-oriented -- few had anything like a serious tan -- but among the group were other more established anti-Scientogy elements, such as investigative journalist Mark Ebner, Mark Bunker from Xenu TV, and several people who identified themselves as former Scientologists.

Asked to explain the sudden groundswell of opposition to Scientology, Lynn Fountain Campbell, who said she'd been part of the church for 40 years, said, "It's just reached a critical mass. People just aren't scared anymore." 

"They try to make people shut up," Campbell added, "and I'm not the shutting up type."

As a service to those who have not had time to fully educate themselves on one of the most important ideological battles of the last 1,000 hours, here's a roundup of some useful information, videos and links you can use to get acquainted with the basic facts in the run-up to the global Scientology protests the hacker group Anonymous has called for this Sunday.

The Timeline

Jan. 15 - Cruise video leaks (Telegraph)

Jan. 15 - Scientology tries to control leaks, fails (Web Scout)

Jan.26 - Hackers Hit Scientology With Online Attack (PC World)

Jan. 29 - Some guy gets accidentally hacked by anti-Scientology hackers, plus pro-Scientology hackers disrupt anti-Scientology hackers' plans to disrupt Scientology (Wired)

Jan. 31 - Someone mails benign white powder to Scientology sites (LAT)

Jan. 31 - Feb 10th is set by shady hacker forces as anti-Scientology D-Day (FOXNews.com)

The Videos

Tom Cruise discusses scientology (Gawker)
    -- Jerry O'Connell's spoof (FunnyOrDie.com)

Anonymous to Scientology (YouTube)
    "We have decided your organization should be destroyed.")

Anonymous clarifies itself (YouTube)
    "Contrary to the assumptions of the media, Anonymous is not simply a group of superhackers,   Anonymous is a collection of  individuals united by an awareness that someone . . . must bring light to the darkness. Among our numbers you will find individuals from all walks of life.")

Anonymous's long and ridiculous code of conduct for public protests (YouTube)
    "Rule #17: Cover your face. This will prevent your identification from videos taken by hostiles."  "Rule #18: Bring water.  A dehydrated, thirsty Anonymous is not a useful Anonymous." "Rule #19: Wear good shoes.")

Scientology leader David Miscavige's niece speaks out (Inside Edition)

Scientology critic Mark Bunker of XenuTV warns hackers against dirty tricks (YouTube)

The Web Sites

Project Chanology
    "A large scale plan to bring down the Church of Scientology in its present form"
    --Chanology on Wikipedia

Church of Scientology News Page
    No mention of controversy, protests or leaked videos
    --Scientology on Wikipedia

Allegedly stolen high-level Scientology documents (Via Digg.com, origin unconfirmed, use salt-grain)   
    "This series may have been given the pc on entrance to the Marcab Confederacy plus or minus 20,000 years ago, and then again much later just before the first Between Lives Implant as a preliminary step before the actual Between Lives Implant."

Hollywoodinterrupted.com - Investigative journo Mark Ebner was the source of the original leak.

Surely we're missing a whole bunch of material -- feel free to fill in the blanks in the comment section.  Thanks.

If Scientology's tech-heavy lore is in need of a Hydra-like villain, it need look no further than YouTube, where for every video of Tom Cruise the church orders taken down, 10 new ones sprout up in its place.  There are so many versions up now that LRH's crew has got to be thinking that the Xenu is out of the bottle. 

Now that a second round of Scientology videos has been leaked (Gawker has 'em, along with its own fresh C&D letter), it'll be interesting to see if the church will try the perpetual decapitation strategy again, or if it'll simply let the videos spread.

After all, they are singing the praises of the religion.  In this video, the voice-over guy -- who sounds bizarrely like he's doing a trailer for the next "Mission Impossible" -- details the church's Cruise-ade warning that "psychiatric drugs are the core of all education failures and ... are wreaking violence across American schoolyards." 

"LRH has given us ... the ability to fight and have the courage to crush these guys," Cruise says in the beginning of the prescription drug video.

Why would you want to suppress a message like that?

--David Sarno

LAT Op-Ed muses on Scientology vs. Anonymous

Michael Shermer examines the oft-discussed question of whether Scientology is a real religion. If so, he suggests, some of the rallying cries of the anti-Scientology group Anonymous -- like ""Honk if You Hate Scientology" -- might be interpreted as hate speech. But Shermer is not quite ready to go there.

It's a sticky wicket, this matter of who gets to decide what's a religion and what isn't. The people? The courts? The IRS? History? All of the above? No wonder starting a religion is such a tough business.

"Anonymous" now has a bunch of faces to go without its name. The loosely bound group of net activists who've got a beef with the Church of Scientology showed up Sunday at the church's largest Los Angeles' locations. The protests were part of a global day of demonstrations against Scientology. Hordes of masked, costumed (and mostly young) picketers showed up in Boston, New York, Toronto, the U.K., Australia and a dozen other locations (thanks wikinews).

Many of the Los Angeles picketers wore the Guy Fawkes masks made popular in the movie "V for Vendetta," and it seemed like every other person was recording the event with a digital camera, camcorder or cellphone.

The protests were peaceful and colorful, with music and chanting (often: "Religion is free -- No Pay Per View" -- a reference to an alleged tiered system whereby the religion's adherents must pay money to gain spiritual clarity).  A near constant stream of horn honks provided the background noise as cars passed the Scientology center on Sunset Boulevard and continued as the mob moved to the so-called Celebrity Center on Hollywood Boulevard.  At least one ambulance and several fire department vehicles honked as they passed.

Security personnel, some wielding video cameras, were stationed at every entrance to the Sunset Boulevard center.  Most wore impassive expressions and, when spoken to (or in some cases, danced with) by rollicking protesters, would betray no more than the wryest of grins.

Protesters were quick to hand leaflets to any cars that slowed or stopped for red lights -- and many drivers freely accepted them.

"Ask a Christian about the Bible; you will be answered," read one leaflet.  "Ask a Scientologist about their text: You will be answered -- after your check clears."

A Fawkes-masked spokesman for Anonymous, who wouldn't give his name but whom several protesters identified as the organizer of the L.A. event, explained one of the group's concrete goals.

"We want set off a government investigation into how they got tax-exempt status," said the man, who said he was in his early 20s.

Scientology was granted the tax-exempt status in 1993 after a protracted battle with the IRS, which for 25 years had maintained that Scientology was a business and not a religion.

When contacted for a comment on the protests, a Scientology spokesperson issued a statement that read, in part: "'Anonymous' is a group of cyber-terrorists who hide their identities behind masks and computer anonymity" and it "is perpetrating religious hate crimes against Churches of Scientology and individual Scientologists for no reason other than religious bigotry." The statement did not mention the Sunday protests.

The protesters Sunday looked mostly young, white and computer-oriented -- few had anything like a serious tan -- but among the group were other more established anti-Scientogy elements, such as investigative journalist Mark Ebner, Mark Bunker from Xenu TV, and several people who identified themselves as former Scientologists.

Asked to explain the sudden groundswell of opposition to Scientology, Lynn Fountain Campbell, who said she'd been part of the church for 40 years, said, "It's just reached a critical mass. People just aren't scared anymore." 

"They try to make people shut up," Campbell added, "and I'm not the shutting up type."

As a service to those who have not had time to fully educate themselves on one of the most important ideological battles of the last 1,000 hours, here's a roundup of some useful information, videos and links you can use to get acquainted with the basic facts in the run-up to the global Scientology protests the hacker group Anonymous has called for this Sunday.

The Timeline

Jan. 15 - Cruise video leaks (Telegraph)

Jan. 15 - Scientology tries to control leaks, fails (Web Scout)

Jan.26 - Hackers Hit Scientology With Online Attack (PC World)

Jan. 29 - Some guy gets accidentally hacked by anti-Scientology hackers, plus pro-Scientology hackers disrupt anti-Scientology hackers' plans to disrupt Scientology (Wired)

Jan. 31 - Someone mails benign white powder to Scientology sites (LAT)

Jan. 31 - Feb 10th is set by shady hacker forces as anti-Scientology D-Day (FOXNews.com)

The Videos

Tom Cruise discusses scientology (Gawker)
    -- Jerry O'Connell's spoof (FunnyOrDie.com)

Anonymous to Scientology (YouTube)
    "We have decided your organization should be destroyed.")

Anonymous clarifies itself (YouTube)
    "Contrary to the assumptions of the media, Anonymous is not simply a group of superhackers,   Anonymous is a collection of  individuals united by an awareness that someone . . . must bring light to the darkness. Among our numbers you will find individuals from all walks of life.")

Anonymous's long and ridiculous code of conduct for public protests (YouTube)
    "Rule #17: Cover your face. This will prevent your identification from videos taken by hostiles."  "Rule #18: Bring water.  A dehydrated, thirsty Anonymous is not a useful Anonymous." "Rule #19: Wear good shoes.")

Scientology leader David Miscavige's niece speaks out (Inside Edition)

Scientology critic Mark Bunker of XenuTV warns hackers against dirty tricks (YouTube)

The Web Sites

Project Chanology
    "A large scale plan to bring down the Church of Scientology in its present form"
    --Chanology on Wikipedia

Church of Scientology News Page
    No mention of controversy, protests or leaked videos
    --Scientology on Wikipedia

Allegedly stolen high-level Scientology documents (Via Digg.com, origin unconfirmed, use salt-grain)   
    "This series may have been given the pc on entrance to the Marcab Confederacy plus or minus 20,000 years ago, and then again much later just before the first Between Lives Implant as a preliminary step before the actual Between Lives Implant."

Hollywoodinterrupted.com - Investigative journo Mark Ebner was the source of the original leak.

Surely we're missing a whole bunch of material -- feel free to fill in the blanks in the comment section.  Thanks.

If Scientology's tech-heavy lore is in need of a Hydra-like villain, it need look no further than YouTube, where for every video of Tom Cruise the church orders taken down, 10 new ones sprout up in its place.  There are so many versions up now that LRH's crew has got to be thinking that the Xenu is out of the bottle. 

Now that a second round of Scientology videos has been leaked (Gawker has 'em, along with its own fresh C&D letter), it'll be interesting to see if the church will try the perpetual decapitation strategy again, or if it'll simply let the videos spread.

After all, they are singing the praises of the religion.  In this video, the voice-over guy -- who sounds bizarrely like he's doing a trailer for the next "Mission Impossible" -- details the church's Cruise-ade warning that "psychiatric drugs are the core of all education failures and ... are wreaking violence across American schoolyards." 

"LRH has given us ... the ability to fight and have the courage to crush these guys," Cruise says in the beginning of the prescription drug video.

Why would you want to suppress a message like that?

--David Sarno

'Anonymous' takes anti-Scientology to the streets

"Anonymous" now has a bunch of faces to go without its name. The loosely bound group of net activists who've got a beef with the Church of Scientology showed up Sunday at the church's largest Los Angeles' locations. The protests were part of a global day of demonstrations against Scientology. Hordes of masked, costumed (and mostly young) picketers showed up in Boston, New York, Toronto, the U.K., Australia and a dozen other locations (thanks wikinews).

Many of the Los Angeles picketers wore the Guy Fawkes masks made popular in the movie "V for Vendetta," and it seemed like every other person was recording the event with a digital camera, camcorder or cellphone.

The protests were peaceful and colorful, with music and chanting (often: "Religion is free -- No Pay Per View" -- a reference to an alleged tiered system whereby the religion's adherents must pay money to gain spiritual clarity).  A near constant stream of horn honks provided the background noise as cars passed the Scientology center on Sunset Boulevard and continued as the mob moved to the so-called Celebrity Center on Hollywood Boulevard.  At least one ambulance and several fire department vehicles honked as they passed.

Security personnel, some wielding video cameras, were stationed at every entrance to the Sunset Boulevard center.  Most wore impassive expressions and, when spoken to (or in some cases, danced with) by rollicking protesters, would betray no more than the wryest of grins.

Protesters were quick to hand leaflets to any cars that slowed or stopped for red lights -- and many drivers freely accepted them.

"Ask a Christian about the Bible; you will be answered," read one leaflet.  "Ask a Scientologist about their text: You will be answered -- after your check clears."

A Fawkes-masked spokesman for Anonymous, who wouldn't give his name but whom several protesters identified as the organizer of the L.A. event, explained one of the group's concrete goals.

"We want set off a government investigation into how they got tax-exempt status," said the man, who said he was in his early 20s.

Scientology was granted the tax-exempt status in 1993 after a protracted battle with the IRS, which for 25 years had maintained that Scientology was a business and not a religion.

When contacted for a comment on the protests, a Scientology spokesperson issued a statement that read, in part: "'Anonymous' is a group of cyber-terrorists who hide their identities behind masks and computer anonymity" and it "is perpetrating religious hate crimes against Churches of Scientology and individual Scientologists for no reason other than religious bigotry." The statement did not mention the Sunday protests.

The protesters Sunday looked mostly young, white and computer-oriented -- few had anything like a serious tan -- but among the group were other more established anti-Scientogy elements, such as investigative journalist Mark Ebner, Mark Bunker from Xenu TV, and several people who identified themselves as former Scientologists.

Asked to explain the sudden groundswell of opposition to Scientology, Lynn Fountain Campbell, who said she'd been part of the church for 40 years, said, "It's just reached a critical mass. People just aren't scared anymore." 

"They try to make people shut up," Campbell added, "and I'm not the shutting up type."

As a service to those who have not had time to fully educate themselves on one of the most important ideological battles of the last 1,000 hours, here's a roundup of some useful information, videos and links you can use to get acquainted with the basic facts in the run-up to the global Scientology protests the hacker group Anonymous has called for this Sunday.

The Timeline

Jan. 15 - Cruise video leaks (Telegraph)

Jan. 15 - Scientology tries to control leaks, fails (Web Scout)

Jan.26 - Hackers Hit Scientology With Online Attack (PC World)

Jan. 29 - Some guy gets accidentally hacked by anti-Scientology hackers, plus pro-Scientology hackers disrupt anti-Scientology hackers' plans to disrupt Scientology (Wired)

Jan. 31 - Someone mails benign white powder to Scientology sites (LAT)

Jan. 31 - Feb 10th is set by shady hacker forces as anti-Scientology D-Day (FOXNews.com)

The Videos

Tom Cruise discusses scientology (Gawker)
    -- Jerry O'Connell's spoof (FunnyOrDie.com)

Anonymous to Scientology (YouTube)
    "We have decided your organization should be destroyed.")

Anonymous clarifies itself (YouTube)
    "Contrary to the assumptions of the media, Anonymous is not simply a group of superhackers,   Anonymous is a collection of  individuals united by an awareness that someone . . . must bring light to the darkness. Among our numbers you will find individuals from all walks of life.")

Anonymous's long and ridiculous code of conduct for public protests (YouTube)
    "Rule #17: Cover your face. This will prevent your identification from videos taken by hostiles."  "Rule #18: Bring water.  A dehydrated, thirsty Anonymous is not a useful Anonymous." "Rule #19: Wear good shoes.")

Scientology leader David Miscavige's niece speaks out (Inside Edition)

Scientology critic Mark Bunker of XenuTV warns hackers against dirty tricks (YouTube)

The Web Sites

Project Chanology
    "A large scale plan to bring down the Church of Scientology in its present form"
    --Chanology on Wikipedia

Church of Scientology News Page
    No mention of controversy, protests or leaked videos
    --Scientology on Wikipedia

Allegedly stolen high-level Scientology documents (Via Digg.com, origin unconfirmed, use salt-grain)   
    "This series may have been given the pc on entrance to the Marcab Confederacy plus or minus 20,000 years ago, and then again much later just before the first Between Lives Implant as a preliminary step before the actual Between Lives Implant."

Hollywoodinterrupted.com - Investigative journo Mark Ebner was the source of the original leak.

Surely we're missing a whole bunch of material -- feel free to fill in the blanks in the comment section.  Thanks.

If Scientology's tech-heavy lore is in need of a Hydra-like villain, it need look no further than YouTube, where for every video of Tom Cruise the church orders taken down, 10 new ones sprout up in its place.  There are so many versions up now that LRH's crew has got to be thinking that the Xenu is out of the bottle. 

Now that a second round of Scientology videos has been leaked (Gawker has 'em, along with its own fresh C&D letter), it'll be interesting to see if the church will try the perpetual decapitation strategy again, or if it'll simply let the videos spread.

After all, they are singing the praises of the religion.  In this video, the voice-over guy -- who sounds bizarrely like he's doing a trailer for the next "Mission Impossible" -- details the church's Cruise-ade warning that "psychiatric drugs are the core of all education failures and ... are wreaking violence across American schoolyards." 

"LRH has given us ... the ability to fight and have the courage to crush these guys," Cruise says in the beginning of the prescription drug video.

Why would you want to suppress a message like that?

--David Sarno

The War Against Scientology 101

As a service to those who have not had time to fully educate themselves on one of the most important ideological battles of the last 1,000 hours, here's a roundup of some useful information, videos and links you can use to get acquainted with the basic facts in the run-up to the global Scientology protests the hacker group Anonymous has called for this Sunday.

The Timeline

Jan. 15 - Cruise video leaks (Telegraph)

Jan. 15 - Scientology tries to control leaks, fails (Web Scout)

Jan.26 - Hackers Hit Scientology With Online Attack (PC World)

Jan. 29 - Some guy gets accidentally hacked by anti-Scientology hackers, plus pro-Scientology hackers disrupt anti-Scientology hackers' plans to disrupt Scientology (Wired)

Jan. 31 - Someone mails benign white powder to Scientology sites (LAT)

Jan. 31 - Feb 10th is set by shady hacker forces as anti-Scientology D-Day (FOXNews.com)

The Videos

Tom Cruise discusses scientology (Gawker)
    -- Jerry O'Connell's spoof (FunnyOrDie.com)

Anonymous to Scientology (YouTube)
    "We have decided your organization should be destroyed.")

Anonymous clarifies itself (YouTube)
    "Contrary to the assumptions of the media, Anonymous is not simply a group of superhackers,   Anonymous is a collection of  individuals united by an awareness that someone . . . must bring light to the darkness. Among our numbers you will find individuals from all walks of life.")

Anonymous's long and ridiculous code of conduct for public protests (YouTube)
    "Rule #17: Cover your face. This will prevent your identification from videos taken by hostiles."  "Rule #18: Bring water.  A dehydrated, thirsty Anonymous is not a useful Anonymous." "Rule #19: Wear good shoes.")

Scientology leader David Miscavige's niece speaks out (Inside Edition)

Scientology critic Mark Bunker of XenuTV warns hackers against dirty tricks (YouTube)

The Web Sites

Project Chanology
    "A large scale plan to bring down the Church of Scientology in its present form"
    --Chanology on Wikipedia

Church of Scientology News Page
    No mention of controversy, protests or leaked videos
    --Scientology on Wikipedia

Allegedly stolen high-level Scientology documents (Via Digg.com, origin unconfirmed, use salt-grain)   
    "This series may have been given the pc on entrance to the Marcab Confederacy plus or minus 20,000 years ago, and then again much later just before the first Between Lives Implant as a preliminary step before the actual Between Lives Implant."

Hollywoodinterrupted.com - Investigative journo Mark Ebner was the source of the original leak.

Surely we're missing a whole bunch of material -- feel free to fill in the blanks in the comment section.  Thanks.

If Scientology's tech-heavy lore is in need of a Hydra-like villain, it need look no further than YouTube, where for every video of Tom Cruise the church orders taken down, 10 new ones sprout up in its place.  There are so many versions up now that LRH's crew has got to be thinking that the Xenu is out of the bottle. 

Now that a second round of Scientology videos has been leaked (Gawker has 'em, along with its own fresh C&D letter), it'll be interesting to see if the church will try the perpetual decapitation strategy again, or if it'll simply let the videos spread.

After all, they are singing the praises of the religion.  In this video, the voice-over guy -- who sounds bizarrely like he's doing a trailer for the next "Mission Impossible" -- details the church's Cruise-ade warning that "psychiatric drugs are the core of all education failures and ... are wreaking violence across American schoolyards." 

"LRH has given us ... the ability to fight and have the courage to crush these guys," Cruise says in the beginning of the prescription drug video.

Why would you want to suppress a message like that?

--David Sarno

Scientology plays Whack-a-Tom

If Scientology's tech-heavy lore is in need of a Hydra-like villain, it need look no further than YouTube, where for every video of Tom Cruise the church orders taken down, 10 new ones sprout up in its place.  There are so many versions up now that LRH's crew has got to be thinking that the Xenu is out of the bottle. 

Now that a second round of Scientology videos has been leaked (Gawker has 'em, along with its own fresh C&D letter), it'll be interesting to see if the church will try the perpetual decapitation strategy again, or if it'll simply let the videos spread.

After all, they are singing the praises of the religion.  In this video, the voice-over guy -- who sounds bizarrely like he's doing a trailer for the next "Mission Impossible" -- details the church's Cruise-ade warning that "psychiatric drugs are the core of all education failures and ... are wreaking violence across American schoolyards." 

"LRH has given us ... the ability to fight and have the courage to crush these guys," Cruise says in the beginning of the prescription drug video.

Why would you want to suppress a message like that?

--David Sarno