Funny GIF Of The Day: Anonymous Party

Anonymous In Hamburg: On The Move!

Germany’s Department of Interior Affairs this week convened a three hour seminar on Scientology. The meeting, called "This is Scientology! Reports from the USA," was held in Hamburg. Unlike the situation in the United States, where it has "religion" status, Scientology in Germany is considered to be a "Threat to Democracy," ranked right alongside "Islamic extremism" and "Racist skinheads."

The program was organized by Ursula Caberta, who heads the Scientology Task Force of the Hamburg Interior Authority. Caberta invited a number of prominent American Scientology critics to the forum, including Hollywood actor Jason Beghe, who recently left the cult after 14 years; Marc Headley, who defected a couple of years ago, and who used to work closely with cult leader David Miscavige; Larry Brennan, a former high-ranking Scientologist who has personal knowledge of the process of "religious cloaking" done by the Scientology cult, for the express purpose of obtaining tax-exempt "religion" status; and Graham Berry, a heroic attorney who has fought the cult for more than 20 years. Also in attendance were several Anonymous members from the USA, as well as from German and other European countries; dignitaries from other countries; and, importantly, a representative from the US Consulate in Hamburg.

Scientology's main offices in Hollywood and Clearwater dispatched a delegation of their most vicious lawyers and PR guys. Notably, these included Tommy Davis, who was seen flipping out with rage as he bull-baited BBC reporter John Sweeney in the 2007 program "Scientology and Me"; and attorney Kendrick Moxon, one of the most vile human beings alive.

I am going to quote at length the reports from several people who were there, as they eloquently describe the meeting and the events leading up to it. I will annotate where needed in [brackets].

MARC HEADLEY:

The event came off flawlessly and the presence from Anonymous was impressive. All of us did several TV interviews and got the word out to as many stations both in EU and US in the time that we had. The government officials that we were able to talk to one on one were amazing and Europe is going to see a huge surge of activity regarding investigating Scientology across the boards. The US delegation of Scilons [Scientologists] that traveled to Germany was dealt a bonanza of epic fail. Not only were they not allowed to disrupt the meeting in any way, because they came so late and did nothing to get on the guest list until the day before, they were denied access to the meeting and not allowed to even come to the podium. There were only enough seats up front for who was scheduled to speak.

They were busy little bees behind the scenes though.

1. All of the speakers flying in from the US were given black PR flyers [saying nasty things about Scientology's critics] at US airports. OSA [Scientology's Office of Special Affairs, its spy unit] being the advanced organization that they are gave us flyers in German! This has a huge effect on us as we do not speak German so they were essentially useless and caused no effect on us whatsoever.

2. Private investigators were hired in the US and paid to spy on us on the way here and while in Hamburg. (Note to OSA for Future PI’s: tell these fuckers to keep their damn distance. I mean one of them sat in front of us on the plane over here and Jason and I must have woken the guy up 75 times crawling over him to get up. I kicked his chair at least 20 times during the flight and he said not a word. The other one stood out like a sore thumb and hung out so close to me in the airport I though he might be attracted to me. My gaydar was on red alert. Turns out he was a Capricorn and it would have never worked out. Oh yeah, and I am married with two kids already.) These PI’s were indentified and spotted in the US, on the plane and when they showed up at our hotel, the gig was up. We shut their asses down. We even tried to talk to one of them at the hotel and he nearly swallowed his frigging tongue. We got a big kick out of that.

3. Attempts by PI’s to get into our rooms were thwarted.

4. Attempts by PI’s to contact us through other means were thwarted.

OSA did not plan on us having multiple secret service personnel with us at all times. Seems they did not do much homework or planning for this wasted trip over here. Note to OSA: tell your boys that when they get back to LA, we can meet up for coffee in Santa Monica. Yeah, that’s right, we did our own little homework and know where your boys live - bitches. Next time tell them if they are going to get so close, don’t let their baggage tags with their names on them show so clearly! Also, the blonde PI dude needs to spend some of his hard earned scilon cash for some new luggage. You can’t be an international PI running around with a friggin’ school kid’s back pack from Kmart. I do not think that OSA knew they were going to have police escorts while here either. They had their own police full time (for their protection) that were talking to our police and so forth. It was like playing spy vs. spy, except for OSA did not have any spies.

Moxon did manage to show up for a few minutes when we were on a small break and Jason Beghe bitch slapped his ass all over the place. Moxon could do nothing but walk away with his tiny junk up his trunk.

ANONYMOUS
We met up at the main station, Scilons were already there with cameras and cell phones, trying to intimidate us. Irishfags were there, Londonfags were there and a lot of fags from all over Germany. [The suffix "-fags" is the current slang, neutral in tone, for "person from..." or "person who is/does..." etc.]. We used the subway and were followed by OSA in the coach behind us, we went further by foot to the event ... Police met up with us and warned us to keep our flyers and flags down because we could be sued. They ensured us police would be on our side, and we should not give the scilons any possibility to hit us. We went further and saw that a whole bunch of scilons were there, a lot of high ranking German scilons, some we already met at the protests, some we met the CCHR [Scientology's main anti-psychiatry front group] exhibits, also Sabine Weber [head of Scientology in Germany], and the international Scilon elite like Moxon....

The first thing we heard was that the Scilons tried to stop the event until the last hour, and when this didn't work out, they tried to get Tommy Davis in... which failed miserably. Quote "If you discuss the dangers of illegal drugs, you do not invite the drug dealer to speak on stage." Then there were good speeches, and Anonymous had a professional camera team there from the Netherlands ... so expect the speeches in good quality on the tubes soon... These speeches were just EPIC. Lots of European government officials were there, local newspapers and the national tv. So it was WIN.

ANONYMOUS

Inside we found Sabine (apparently the top Scifag in Germany) on her mobile phone looking like someone had eaten her cat. Also present was Toxon himself who looked like someone had shat in his cornflakes.A procession of masked Anons then made their way to the event to be confronted outside by the Scifag [Scientologist] protest. They looked dour, to say the least, and never made any noise. Our protests are definitely much more fun. They did take the brave step of getting two six-year-old-looking kids to give us black PR. Was very humourous when one tried to bullbait myself and one of the Britfags [Britons]. That didn't work too well given that we hadn't a word of German between us and didn't know what he was saying.

ANONYMOUS

The Scientologists in the morning of the event were outside with their police registered event (This is normal under German law). They had their, made by the local printer, signboards which were by some of them also a refuge, all you could see behind the signs was the lower part of the body. There were about ten demonstrators, and half in their 50 - 60's. I didn't recognize anyone only Sabine Weber. They started again in the afternoon and before the event. There flyer was the usual mixture of information and disinformation which reinforced the presence to the public, that no one really knows if Scientology is a scam or not, including the OSA. One mistake they made was to represent a swastika on their flyer. This is strongly forbidden here in Germany, I wonder why the police didn't notice and confiscate it?

Mrs Caberta had invited a Scientology representative to present their point of view, but nobody turned up. Everyone was filtered before entering the hall and there were subsequently only guests that had a genuine interest that came in. At the back of the room were perhaps 8 translators in their individual cubicles, with enough translations receivers for everybody.

Larry Brenner started everything off with a good speaker presence, and lots of examples. i.e."That Hubbard over the two year period of the "Religious Cloaking" gave the orders personally, the whole time, instructing the new religious use of Scientology". The impression from all the speakers was what they had to say, didn't include the normal Scientology misinformation, their information originated from personal experience, and elaborated all the Scientology mysteries that occur when one mixes opinion and fact together. To me it all seemed credible, it explained a feasible reality, a genuine attempt to distinguish fact from fiction. Each speaker spoke from their personal and factual experience. They had really no motive, to lie or exaggerate or make a religious attack. Here was a audience, a need to inform oneself, of what Scientology really is, and how or if it fits into the German democracy. The last speaker, lawyer Graham Berry really closed many of the legal ambiguities....

The next day, and in the days to follow, Anonymous conducted raids (our word for protests) on Scientology offices in Hamburg and in cities all over the world. Won't you join us for the next big raid, on Saturday, 13 September, 11 am local time, in cities everywhere?

-- Indy Bay.org

Nice Kitty

Oh Man, You're Getting Warmer,...

"Maybe it's all the news of 'Anonymous' protests against Scientology that have been dominating the blogs lately, but it seems the word 'cult' is on a lot of people's minds. Which makes me think about just how many cults there are out there -- and not just the religious kind, either.

Merriam-Webster has not one but five definitions for 'cult,' the most expansive of which is 'a great devotion to a person, idea, object, movement, or work ... usually by a small group of people.'

Ransom Riggs, leading into a list of "5 Cults We Like," on CNN.com

Yep, there are all kinds of cults - and they should all be avoided like the plague. You got political cults (Obama) science cults (global warming) medical cults (homeopathy) spiritual cults (Eckhart Tolle) and many, many, more. And what do they all have in common? They all want YOU to join them in pushing their ideas on others.

It's nice to see CNN acknowledging their presence but it would be better if they took their effect seriously: they are so close,...

NewAge Believers Make Bad Guys Strong

"In his personal life, L. Ron was a con. By conning Jack Parsons that he was really good at magic, he managed to get Parsons’ girl and his boat. But, L. Ron saw something very useful in all of the mysticism of Crowley’s version of magic..

According to an interview with L. Ron Jr., LRH Sr. was very into the occult. He claimed that the true basis of Scientology was Satanism. However, this is a misrepresentation of Crowley’s works, which merely appealed to various belief systems to extract power. Crowley did this because so many people believe in Satan, that they actually lend power to his magic. Crowley talks about the form of the magic being unimportant, as long as the belief is there. It is clear that belief is the mystical prime unit in Crowley’s form of magic. [Underlined emphasis TMRs. This has been a regular message of this blog: abandon your beliefs and the power to control you is lessened.]

But L. Ron didn’t learn from Crowley. They never met. He learned from Jack Parsons. And Parson’s understanding of magic was amateur at best. But L. Ron caught on quickly. He realized that even if he didn’t believe in magic himself, other people’s beliefs strengthened his power. This is the satanic root of Scientology: using the power of others’ beliefs in order to power his organization."

-- Marc M. Arcab, a member of Anonymous, for GlossLip.com - which has been doing excellent reporting on Scientology.

You should go read the whole thing: it's fascinating stuff.

I Love It: A Message To Anonymous From (The World's Best Cult) The Church Of The SubGenius

They're Baaaack: Beware The Ides Of March

The Cult War: One Mother Stands Alone

QUESTION:

I just read a horrible, unfavorable and un-researched article from some Boston blogger/reporter, pretty much calling [Anonymous] jerks for protesting a religion, and not having anything better to do.

ANSWER:

I’m offended by that — really, truly, deeply offended by his ignorance. I have not undertaken this lightly or impetuously. Maybe there are some who are in it because it’s a popular thing to do, or for the “lulz,” or who don’t understand or believe what these people can and will do to fight any and all critics. I don’t know. Our group seemed incredibly well-informed, disciplined, passionate, cautious and even empathetic toward Scientologists as individuals. You know how I got into this, because you were there kind of at the beginning for me. I thought Scientology was just a harmless but avant garde philosophy, or something, and knew nothing. The Tom Cruise video didn’t give me giggles. It scared me because he is obviously disturbed; someone has done something very wrong to him, and I wanted to know what.

Hundreds of Google searches, followed links, documents read, anonymous e-mail registries made, and comments posted… and here I am. I’m 39 years old, a Midwestern mom of [removed to protect identity], in a very happy marriage with a wonderful man – and I feel as if I’ve fallen into an alternate universe. I had no idea such evil really existed, at least in the United States . I can’t believe they’re allowed to operate here, and so easily subvert the justice system to their advantage, bullying and terrorizing people who merely present balanced articles. As a former reporter, that strikes a very personal fear and fury into my heart. I have agonized, literally cried and shaken with fear, at the thought of deliberately walking into the line of fire with a family at stake. My husband and I have had arguments about why it’s so important that I spend 10 hours a day reading literature on the subject. As a reporter, it was THAT important for me to consider all sides, be fair, include all available information, and there has been a flood recently, including the videos of Miscavige speaking about 2006 accomplishments. My leisure time, personal hygiene, and work/family duties have all taken a big hit for about a month now. I was jumping at shadows, (going “tinfoil”), even ripping open an unexpected package. I received financial information mailed to my home address for a new credit card account in someone else’s name, and of course called the company to inform them of the mistake, destroying the cards/PIN numbers.

It has been very scary, difficult, and stressful. I almost wish I could go back to a time when I knew nothing, because it was easy to know nothing, and fear nothing.

All my friends are mystified by my passion about this, and the lack of support combined with fear to dissuade me. My husband had no interest in any of it, saying I was lending credibility to Scientology by opposing it, and was giving in to “compulsion.”

“They’re whackjobs, and most people are NOT going to even go there.” He said, “You’ve lost your sense of proportion.”

I said, “And you, I’m sad to say, are one of many who will sit on their asses until danger is 10 feet from your front stoop. That’s how these things go so far – underestimating them and not being informed.”

Alternative Tentacles (The Final Solution)

"Zen fascists will control you
100% natural
You will jog for the master race
And always wear the happy face"

--Dead Kennedys ~ California Uber Alles

Sounds like my neighborhood - how about yours?

It's just amazing to me how the same words - "cult", "nazi", and "fascism" - keep popping up when I'm researching current forms of, post 60's, NewAge spirituality, and related "healthy" behaviors, but hardly anybody outside of the actual groups (or those casually associated with them, like people who meditate, or do yoga) bats an eye about those clear associations. I, for one, would never want to be associated with such groups - not even casually - having already given years of thought to the subject of what I'd do if I had lived in Germany during the Third Reich.

I know so many people who say they hate cults, nazis, and fascists, but it seems to me they spend more energy denying their existence, or have decided it's taboo to talk about them, than actually doing anything about them. Especially when those strains are advancing through these made-up quasi-religions.

For instance, a bunch of former Scientologists have started a website, Scientology Victims Testimonies.com, where the word "Nazi" is thrown around pretty liberally. Except for in groups like Anonymous (which is finally starting to get some decent press coverage) where's the outrage? Why do Tom Cruise, John Travolta, etc., get a free ride from the media about what kind of "church" they're involved with? Why isn't the United States more hard-nosed like Germany?

The San Francisco Chronicle's Marshall Kilduff was asking, almost, the same thing in his editorial about the Bay Area and it's "churches", though I doubt if the paper - or the people of the Bay Area - plan on doing anything close to an investigation on them. (Despite people, like me, pounding the subject to death.) Fight Al Qaeda? Sure, kinda. Fight Al Qaeda-like groups at home? No, we'd rather embrace them, kinda. Or just keep quiet. That's the "open-minded" thing to do, tolerant bunch that we are.

I guess, like at the beginning of the Third Reich, we're in a super-happy world of cultish nazi fascists, and it's much better to just keep silent. And, if it was just about me, I probably would too.

But nowadays, in the face of this stupid NewAge form of Oprah-led, peer-enforced, Hippie-promised "peace and love", too many intelligent individuals - many of whom I find to be truly nice people - are starting to feel like they are the Jews, so I'm always going to stand with them. But really, as a student of history, that's not a difficult choice for me to make:

Like I said, I've already given this a lot of thought.

The Voiceless Speak

TMR Cult War Update: Anonymous (February 10th Action Announcement) And Now "Coil"

"Mailings of a suspicious white powder to 10 Church of Scientology addresses prompted the evacuation of dozens of people and the closure of a major thoroughfare Wednesday as hazmat teams were called to examine the packages.

The letters were sent via the Postal Service to Scientology properties in Hollywood, the San Fernando Valley, Santa Monica, Glendale and Tustin. Police shut part of Glendale's busy Brand Boulevard for two hours before sounding the all-clear, while 60 people were cleared from buildings in Tustin, authorities said.

The incidents appeared to be part of a hoax. Preliminary tests showed the powder to be cornstarch and wheat germ."

- By John Spano and Andrew Blankstein of the Los Angeles Times.

TMR's Cult War Update: Anonymous, 5 - Scientology, 2 (The Battle Continues,...)

The Cult War took a turn today when, unbelievably, it was revealed that administrators of 711Chan.org (one of the sites Anonymous attacks have been launched from) decided to throw in the towel. Yep, just like that. So, after a spectacular beginning, it looks like Anonymous is already taking a few (well placed) hits - or made a few strategic mistakes.

Does this mean the battle is over? Doubtful. Just look at the support some people on the street received in Orlando, Florida, Scientology's "world headquarters":



Also, another (very short) Anonymous "Address To The People" was released, featuring the soundtrack from The Unfunny Truth About Scientology, one of the web pieces that probably inspired the whole thing:



Xenu.TV's Mark Bunker added his voice to the controversy, begging Anonymous to call the whole thing off - or at least try to act in a legal manner - against this world-wide cult for which the word "legal", obviously, means nothing. How effective that'll be will remain to be seen because, from what I've gathered, Anonymous is world-wide as well, and, like herding cats, getting everyone to cooperate (when, after years in the trenches, the best Bunker can promise them is "maybe" they'll be successful doing it his way) isn't likely. They might even be laughing at him. Here's his plea:



So what does it all mean? Well, like the Iraq War, or the larger War On Terror, it means that twists and turns, and even setbacks, are to be expected, and the final outcome won't be known until we get wherever that is. In the meantime, I'll keep you updated on developments, and report what I learn as it happens.

ANONYMOUS: Knowledge Is Free

I just found this new Anonymous video (whoever is doing these is good,...) and thought I should state, for the record, why attacking cults (as opposed to organized religions) is important:

1) Cultists get a free hand to do their dirty work. We all know about the crimes of the Catholic church, or what fundamentalist Christians are up to, but cults work insidiously, subversively, and unethically. Organized religions, at least, try to engender a sense of right from wrong.

2) Even the major religions hate cults. Some of the best work on New Age belief (which is the umbrella that cults function under) come from Christian groups. As I suffered, from my own cult exposure, the one group of people who didn't question what had happened to me has been Jews. (The Holocaust was a great primer, wouldn't you think?) Despite their vulnerability, organized religions are more afraid of what cults do than losing their own cache, that's for sure.

3) Undermine the belief in cultish thinking and religious belief loses it's footing as well. Xenu, Jesus, The Flying Spaghetti Monster - it's all the same stuff - but when you take on cults you re-establish more than reason but real, non-spiritual, norms within society. For instance, attacks on Homeopathy will allow doctors to re-establish their authority at the top of the medical food chain, not the quacks. This is important because, of course, the undermining of science hurts us all. (Go down to the comments section on that last link,...) The point is, even religious folks will have to resort to reason to fight this battle, and, in doing so, they will be forced - by their own hand - to challenge their own nonsensical beliefs.

I have more but you can click around the site to find it. Just know this:

I knew this was coming. I'm not jumping on anybody's bandwagon. Not even now. This is the third version of TMR I've done (the other two got dropped because of online harassment from cultists) but, like you, I won't be stopped. I don't have computer skills but my own (offline) plans are in the works.

DONATE MONEY. I'm just one black guy, in a cold back room, moving around a lot and eating a lot of ramen, but my passion is as great as Black Lightning's. And, I think, in the end, I'll be even more effective.

Take care,

CMC

The Cult War Continues: The Regime

"A new entity calling itself The Regime used keylogging to gain an administrator password to 711chan.org, a site popular with the open vigilante group "Anonymous" that has recently been attacking Scientology online.

As of 9:57 p.m. (eastern time) the site 711chan.org, has been replaced, allegedly by The Regime by the title Church of Scientology along with a statement on the home page stating "This website has been deleted due to copyright claims from the Church of Scientology." A search performed using Google, on 711chan has returned the number one result of the apparent hack. All that remains of 711chan.org is an apparent message to the members of the site to "run" and "hide."

"711chan is full of fucking fail for siding with Gaia. I'm out of here, faggots. Enjoy your Gaia," said the message.

The Regime's first attack went along with a message posted to 711chan's website saying that "This site has not been blessed by The Regime and is deemed lame", believing Anonymous to be self-proclaimed hackers (although this title was primarily used by the media). It also refers to Anonymous' attempt to bring down the Church of Scientology (named 'Operation Chanology'), saying that "chanology is lame, scientology is lame". It thereafter declared that the message board where "Anonymous" had been discussing Operation Chanology had been removed. Minutes later, 711chan stopped responding to queries."

- From Wikinews Reports

UPDATE: I don't know if it's related but Rick Ross's Cult News Network is down as well. This is nothing new (cults are always attacking the site, nice folks that they are) but the timing is weird,....and, BTW, The Regime's video is lame.

CULT WAR!!!

I am happy to report that, along with TMR and ANONYMOUS, there's been another call for a Cult War. Dr. R.W. Donnell writes:

"Although the rising chorus of voices against pseudoscientific medical education is encouraging the chorus is small, and the situation, from where I sit, is not good. At this late point nothing short of all out war on quackademic medicine will be effective. It can be done."

Indeed it can. I was treated as a mad man when I first proposed that war was the only answer to this problem but, now that skeptics are being attacked and doctors are waking up to the infiltration of hospitals, the fascistic tendencies of the cults are finally having the desired effect: Moving for a call to action.

And it's about time.

But what form should it take? We're talking about an enemy that's organized, years ahead of us, and, like Al Qaeda, fractured. So I think, like Anonymous, the Enlightenment's actions against the New Age should be multifaceted as well.

Many of the things that are necessary will not seem to make any more sense than what the enemy has proposed - like working with organized religion - but that's the nature of the beast: This is a war on a nonsensical enemy. And, as war, everyone must be prepared to do things that, on the surface, don't seem rational; that, maybe, go against their better natures - even their oaths as doctors. (It's unheard of, for instance, that surgeons would go on strike, but, since nurses do it - and nursing is part of the problem - it should seriously be considered.)

Obviously, NCCAM must be destroyed. And, yes, Bill and Hillary Clinton - as the two people who gave New Age credibility, and power, and as two of the chief purveyors of nonsense - must be defeated.

Clearly, Oprah's gotta go, too.

Health food stores, especially Whole Foods, yoga studios - they all must be directly challenged on what the hell they thought they were going to do to us. I know it sounds crazy but so is the enemy. And we gotta do what we gotta do:

Such people won't stop on their own.