The Internet vs Scientology

[sidereal]

Total victory

[Llava]

...aaaand it's back.

Apparently I'm the only one who cares anymore, but I wonder what the story there was.

Hi there,

Thanks for your email.

The video in question, "Message to Scientology" was taken down due to an
error.

This video has been restored. The video was removed in error while we were
removing other content. It was not a Terms of Use violation, nor was it an
attempt at censorship. I apologize for the misunderstanding and hope you
continue to enjoy your time on our site.

Regards,

Sam
The YouTube Team

[WindupAtheist]

I like this one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSNRjPJRRqY&feature=related

The kid sounds like they're in the seventh grade, but I'll be damned if they don't give it a good delivery.

[schild]

The whole point of computer generated voices was to avoid identification. That person is a newfag.

[Nerf]

I liked the part where s/he was talking about the feb 10 protests, building up suspense for the ides of march, and then let loose with the sinister plan, MOAR PROTESTS!

It was great.

[Kitsune]

Scientology critic found dead in suspiciously-convoluted 'suicide' in Clearwater.

[schild]

Hm.

"We are not your private army."

The guy there is probably right, Anonymous is being framed. Had he done his research, he would've used the phrasing 'Personal Army.' Sea Org is a private army.

[SurfD]

Hm.

"We are not your private army."

The guy there is probably right, Anonymous is being framed. Had he done his research, he would've used the phrasing 'Personal Army.' Sea Org is a private army.

Something about that chain of events makes me wonder.  It takes a VERY far stretch of the imagination to believe that the CoS would be stupid enough to kill someone, and then try to make it look like the Anon gang did it in an effort to put the blame on the SoC.  I can think of a thousand more believably plausible methods by which the SoC could try to set up Anon then something like this.

No one in their right mind is going to believe that Anon was responsible for this dude's death, no matter how hard you try to bend it.

[Dtrain]

Nothing I've seen suggests that foul play was involved - just that information spreads with unpredictable speed through many sources. Newsflash, amirite?

He was clear, almost an OT before he left scientology. I think after that, you'd end up being a little unpredictable in your behavior, possibly even suicidal.

Not that you need a brainwashing routine to be suicidal. Many people from all walks of life suffer from psychological problems making them suicidal. Are defeated by their body thetans.

[Kitsune]

I dunno, it just seems a terribly convoluted way to commit suicide.  Be much quicker to just climb in the car and stick the hose from the exhaust in through the window than to feed the hose over into your bedroom.

On the other hand, some people are saying things like 'ninjas could have snuck the hose into his bedroom and poisoned him while he slept!', but I have the suspicion that a hose stuck in a car's exhaust pipe is going to be kind of loud when the car's running.  Slightly less hysterical people are suggesting that he was drunk/drugged/knocked out and thus unable to wake up from any amount of noise involved, which is a less-implausible idea than sleeping through someone opening your window and running your car's exhaust into your bedroom.  From any perspective, it's weird.

[sidereal]

Or he wanted to die in his bed comfortably instead of in his car.

But yes, weird.

[Dtrain]

Deutschland +1: http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/0,1518,353577,00.html

SPIEGEL: Do you see it as your job to recruit new followers for Scientology?

Cruise: I'm a helper. For instance, I myself have helped hundreds of people get off drugs. In Scientology, we have the only successful drug rehabilitation program in the world. It's called Narconon.

SPIEGEL: That's not correct. Yours is never mentioned among the recognized detox programs. Independent experts warn against it because it is rooted in pseudo science.

Cruise: You don't understand what I am saying. It's a statistically proven fact that there is only one successful drug rehabilitation program in the world. Period.

SPIEGEL: With all due respect, we doubt that.

Less than 2 weeks until the Ides of March!

[Llava]

SPIEGEL: Why do you go so extremely public about your personal convictions?

Cruise: I believe in freedom of speech.

 

[Der Helm]

I wondered how I could have missed that gem, then I saw the date. 

[sidereal]

Spielberg: I believe that you shouldn't be allowed to attend college without having taken a course in tolerance education.

[K9]

...

[Krakrok]

Wikinews again.

Some video from Australia.

[Kitsune]

The one I attended went just dandy, lots of people, friendly police, no violence, party atmosphere, smooth sailing across the board.  Meanwhile, the Atlanta cops were busy playing the 'you don't need a protest permit, oops yes you do' and 'you can wear masks, oops no you can't' game and hauled people off to jail for it, then to cap off the whole thing pulled over and ticketed any drivers who honked for the protest.

Atlanta's news companies and the ACLU are going to find a lot of voice mail and e-mails waiting for them in the morning.

More importantly, the other protesters passed the hat and made bail for the ones who were arrested, nobody was allowed to rot in jail over this.

[Krakrok]

That story is listed here. Sounds like a top dog at the Atlanta Police is a CoS member.

Edit: Phone call with a scientologist.

And the Google News link again.

[Paelos]

Atlanta just had a tornado, people. This is a sideshow compared to people complaining about how close they came to death. Or something.

[Tebonas]

Illegal arrests ordered by an official close to the cause that is protested against? Isn't abuse of authority a criminal offense in the US?

[cmlancas]

Illegal arrests ordered by an official close to the cause that is protested against? Isn't abuse of authority a criminal offense common occurrence in the US?

Yes.

[Lantyssa]

Illegal arrests ordered by an official close to the cause that is protested against? Isn't abuse of authority a criminal offense in the US?

No.  Refer to Politics and any Bush thread.

 

[Tebonas]

I guess its different when the president can get you a free-out-of-jail card by pardon. Why should he do that for a Scientologist?

[Phildo]

Lobbyists and $?

[Tebonas]

If you can buy presidential pardons now you are in even deeper shit than I thought.

[Lantyssa]

Care to send a shovel then?

[HaemishM]

Edit: Phone call with a scientologist.

Goddamn, that was awesome. For real.

[Azazel]

rolled.

badly.

[Samwise]

[Paelos]

So how's this whole thing going? Any news on the front lines?

[Azazel]

Scientology has been defeated. Crushed. Is no more.


Didn't you get the memo?

[Dtrain]

Texas is well on it's way to declaring it a business (instead of a religion.) YEEHAW!

http://forums.enturbulation.org/showthread.php?t=6526

Cliff notes: Resolution was included as a result of majority vote to the official Republican Convention Resolutions on the 29th of March 2008. It's not a law yet, but with Texas being an absurdly red state this is a major victory.

At the risk of sounding like this should be politics: For the first time in my life, I'm proud of my (new) state.

[KallDrexx]

You know, I was going to write a thing about how this means nothing until it passes, but looking at the resolution itself and their three clauses which define a religion this actually might have a slight chance of passing.  I still think that CoS will get other religions to help get it rejected (calling it prejudice against religions) but we'll see.

Hell that site that shows the resolution also has a huge essay about how this is religious persecution and people should be calling the government to tell them that. 

[Lantyssa]

Don't hold out too much hope.  At best this means it makes it into the party platform when they hold the state convention and is not a law in any way.

Also it would have a small effect when it comes to property and business tax qualifications, but Texas does not have an income tax.  It's a step though.