60 Minutes New Zealand - June 13 2006
'60 Minutes' on Scientology, New Zealand TV3 Best part is Martin Ruston aka Rockyslammer, talking about Scientology.
60 Minutes New Zealand - June 13 2006 - Tom Cruseand Scientology via Noolmusic.com
Sunday, November 08, 2009
Tuesday, November 03, 2009
Man Overboard: To Leave Scientology, Don Jason Had to Jump Off a Ship
"Don Jason was a Scientology officer who wanted out. Instead, he says he was held against his will, locked on a ship in the Caribbean."
[..] It always bothered him, and Jason resolved that he never would submit to the program. When the order came that he do the RPF aboard the Freewinds, he said he wanted off the ship.
No, the guards said. Do the program.
"So you're holding me against my will?"
Jason tried to walk off the ship with parishioners going on a shore excursion. The Freewinds guards stepped in his way. He tried a second time, but they blocked him again.
For three days he protested by refusing to work, but that only got him more restrictions. He needed a new approach.
THE ROLLING PIN
Jason decided to act like a good soldier, the picture of compliance. Behaving got him better work assignments and more freedom to move about the ship.
He ruled out jumping overboard. The 40-foot drop was too dangerous, and the dock walls too high, with no ladders.
The thick, 30-foot cables that moor the ship to the dock seemed his best chance. He thought through the variables.
He would have to move quickly down the cable; the guards would hurry to the dock to head him off. Timing was important. Too many people on the dock and he would create a scene. Then again, he wanted at least a few witnesses.
When the ship docked each day, he watched the cables go taut and slack with the tide. A drooping cable would leave him short of the dock. He would have to time his descent so when he reached bottom, the cable would be taut. He would have to get around the metal plate that kept rats from climbing to the ship.
He scavenged for materials to build a device that would help him quickly get down the cable.
He fashioned something like a rolling pin. Starting with a wooden dowel the thickness of a clothing rod, he sawed off a 16-inch piece. Around it he fit a 7-inch length of PVC pipe. To keep the PVC from moving side to side, he sunk drywall screws into the dowel on either end of the PVC.
For two weeks he observed and thought things through. He would have to hold his body high in case he needed to bring up his legs and slow his descent. He ate lunch on the bow every day so that when the time came, the guards wouldn't think twice about him being there.
Three months before, Jason had a title, an office and authority over hundreds of staff in Clearwater. Now his church was treating him like a prisoner.
"I'm thinking, You know what? Once I pull a stunt like this, I'll never get off this ship on my own terms. So I'm committed. Once I start this, I have to be prepared to take it all the way.
"I'm going to do whatever I have to to get off that ship, which includes fist-fighting people, yelling my head off, whatever it takes. I'm not going back on that ship. Period.''
NOV. 21, 1996
He had been on the ship six weeks when he made his move. Jason can't remember if they docked in Freeport or Nassau, just that the town had a decent-sized airport.[..]
Don Jason's route out of Scientology
Times staff In Print: Tuesday, November 3, 2009
1 August 1996: Working at Scientology's Flag Service Organization in Clearwater, Don Jason is told that the church is going to discipline him for something he felt was unfair. He leaves the next day without permission and drives on I-4 to Daytona Beach. He takes back roads north to Fernandina Beach and spends the night at a motel.
2 The next day: He continues north through Savannah. He assumes the church will look for him in his native Milwaukee, so he randomly chooses to settle in Atlanta.
3 After six weeks: He gets second thoughts about how he left. He returns to Clearwater to follow the church's approved "routing out'' process.
4 October 1996: Jason flies to the Bahamas to board Scientology's cruise ship, the Freewinds, where he becomes a virtual prisoner.
5 Six weeks later: Jason escapes over the bow of the Freewinds and makes it to the airport. He buys a ticket to Milwaukee, with a layover in Atlanta. A Scientology official buys the seat next to Jason on the leg to Atlanta. The layover: Marty Rathbun, a top Scientology executive, intercepts Jason at the Atlanta airport. Rathbun tries to persuade him to return to Clearwater and follow proper procedure to leave the church. Jason refuses, and Rathbun flies with him to Milwaukee.
6 In Milwaukee: Jason's mother and a sister pick him up at the airport. The next day, he comes to Rathbun's hotel and signs confessions to his "crimes."
7 Twelve years later: Jason works in Chicago as an operations manager for a building supply company.
[Last modified: Nov 02, 2009 10:56 PM]
Read and watch the complete Tampabay.com TRUTH RUNDOWN series to get the full picture.
[..] It always bothered him, and Jason resolved that he never would submit to the program. When the order came that he do the RPF aboard the Freewinds, he said he wanted off the ship.
No, the guards said. Do the program.
"So you're holding me against my will?"
Jason tried to walk off the ship with parishioners going on a shore excursion. The Freewinds guards stepped in his way. He tried a second time, but they blocked him again.
For three days he protested by refusing to work, but that only got him more restrictions. He needed a new approach.
THE ROLLING PIN
Jason decided to act like a good soldier, the picture of compliance. Behaving got him better work assignments and more freedom to move about the ship.
He ruled out jumping overboard. The 40-foot drop was too dangerous, and the dock walls too high, with no ladders.
The thick, 30-foot cables that moor the ship to the dock seemed his best chance. He thought through the variables.
He would have to move quickly down the cable; the guards would hurry to the dock to head him off. Timing was important. Too many people on the dock and he would create a scene. Then again, he wanted at least a few witnesses.
When the ship docked each day, he watched the cables go taut and slack with the tide. A drooping cable would leave him short of the dock. He would have to time his descent so when he reached bottom, the cable would be taut. He would have to get around the metal plate that kept rats from climbing to the ship.
He scavenged for materials to build a device that would help him quickly get down the cable.
He fashioned something like a rolling pin. Starting with a wooden dowel the thickness of a clothing rod, he sawed off a 16-inch piece. Around it he fit a 7-inch length of PVC pipe. To keep the PVC from moving side to side, he sunk drywall screws into the dowel on either end of the PVC.
For two weeks he observed and thought things through. He would have to hold his body high in case he needed to bring up his legs and slow his descent. He ate lunch on the bow every day so that when the time came, the guards wouldn't think twice about him being there.
Three months before, Jason had a title, an office and authority over hundreds of staff in Clearwater. Now his church was treating him like a prisoner.
"I'm thinking, You know what? Once I pull a stunt like this, I'll never get off this ship on my own terms. So I'm committed. Once I start this, I have to be prepared to take it all the way.
"I'm going to do whatever I have to to get off that ship, which includes fist-fighting people, yelling my head off, whatever it takes. I'm not going back on that ship. Period.''
NOV. 21, 1996
He had been on the ship six weeks when he made his move. Jason can't remember if they docked in Freeport or Nassau, just that the town had a decent-sized airport.[..]
Don Jason's route out of Scientology
Times staff In Print: Tuesday, November 3, 2009
1 August 1996: Working at Scientology's Flag Service Organization in Clearwater, Don Jason is told that the church is going to discipline him for something he felt was unfair. He leaves the next day without permission and drives on I-4 to Daytona Beach. He takes back roads north to Fernandina Beach and spends the night at a motel.
2 The next day: He continues north through Savannah. He assumes the church will look for him in his native Milwaukee, so he randomly chooses to settle in Atlanta.
3 After six weeks: He gets second thoughts about how he left. He returns to Clearwater to follow the church's approved "routing out'' process.
4 October 1996: Jason flies to the Bahamas to board Scientology's cruise ship, the Freewinds, where he becomes a virtual prisoner.
5 Six weeks later: Jason escapes over the bow of the Freewinds and makes it to the airport. He buys a ticket to Milwaukee, with a layover in Atlanta. A Scientology official buys the seat next to Jason on the leg to Atlanta. The layover: Marty Rathbun, a top Scientology executive, intercepts Jason at the Atlanta airport. Rathbun tries to persuade him to return to Clearwater and follow proper procedure to leave the church. Jason refuses, and Rathbun flies with him to Milwaukee.
6 In Milwaukee: Jason's mother and a sister pick him up at the airport. The next day, he comes to Rathbun's hotel and signs confessions to his "crimes."
7 Twelve years later: Jason works in Chicago as an operations manager for a building supply company.
[Last modified: Nov 02, 2009 10:56 PM]
Read and watch the complete Tampabay.com TRUTH RUNDOWN series to get the full picture.
Sunday, November 01, 2009
Chased by their church: When you try to leave Scientology, they try to bring you back
Chased by their church: When you try to leave Scientology, they try to bring you backBy Joe Childs and Thomas C. Tobin, Times Staff Writers
Posted: Oct 31, 2009 04:30 AM
Posted: Oct 31, 2009 04:30 AM
Belgian newspaper De Morgen On Legal Choices To Hit Scientology
Thank you to Anonymous member TrevAnon for posting about the following article Belgian newspaper De Morgen on legal choices to hit Scientology. I have posted the original via BlogThis and have provided an English translation summary posted by another anonymous member because the Google translation did not translate the title accurately.
De Morgen De Gedachte -
Tref scientology in het hart (1022367) Belgium
Anonymous Summary:
Be firm with Scientology
Luc Willems is a lawyer who is the former reporter of the parliamentary inquiry into the cults and former senator for Open VLD, a liberal Belgian political party. Den Morgen is a reputable somewhat Leftist newspaper.
Belgian law, like French law but unlike English law, is Napoleonic and so depends on the application of general categories such as abuse of trust, extortion, illegal practice of medicine, or theft.
In France this week Scientology was convicted of organized fraud and in the U.S. is under attack by several legal suits brought by former members. In Belgium also several lawsuits against the cult are pending. Luc Willems has been occupied with the problem of cults for years: "Police and public prosecutors still do not have the right weapons to fight cults.”
The power that these organizations want to exercise conflict with basic rights and freedoms. To what extent should the government intervene?
Opinions are divided. Some say people should think for themselves; others feel that when people in distress are being manipulated, there should be more government intervention.
In the field of consumer protection the government in the seventies already set rules and enforcement to protect consumers from deception and misleading sales practices. A clear choice was made in favor of protecting the individual over the unbridled freedom of contract. And with success.
In Scientology the same question arises. Scientology followers are recruited through personal contacts or cover organizations. The potential victim is put through a profound personality test. The outcome of these tests is always similar: there are problems, but they can be cured by Scientology. The potential cult-member then gets a communication course offered at almost no cost or even free. Then a new course follows that costs more and before the cult-member knows he or she is immersed in the Church of Scientology and they pay expensive courses with questionable content and without results.
As long as this is done freely, there still is no problem. Gradually, however, the organization takes control over the cult member's personal life. Then it gets dangerous. Is the member able to get out at any time he wants? Does Scientology respect that choice? Does Scientology allow the ex-member to quietly build up his life again? There are many testimonies of victims against Scientology in this respect. Victims quickly lose 50,000 euros and their lives with it. They go further into debt to be able to take courses.
People in the throes of a personal crisis are particularly vulnerable: a broken relationship, job loss or loneliness makes them vulnerable to the feel-good-courses. The effects in relational and financial terms are dramatic. The same problems occur with therapeutic and other religious cults.
Rain in Paris
The parliamentary inquiry into cults in 1997 identified a series of failures in legislation and administration. Despite fierce criticism from cults, the majority of the recommendations from the inquiry were implemented into guidelines and legislation, and made operational. The most important part was the independent IACSSO, the advisory centre that informs the general public about cults in our country. Addressing the harmful cults was efficient and there followed a number of convictions. One recommendation which would criminalise the core business of cults has so far remained a dead letter: this is the mental destabilization of individuals and the abuse of vulnerable people. Since 2001 France has the About-Picard law which addresses these questions.
This law allows for prosecution to investigate proactively and for the courts to condemn serious violations. In Belgium, the prosecution must rely on more general crimes such as forgery, abuse of trust, extortion, receiving stolen goods, theft, slander, defamation or unlawful practice of medicine. The core of the activity, the abuse of the mental weakness of certain groups of people, remains out of reach. A thoughtful and effective legislation is essential to address certain issues. Police and public prosecutors have to date no appropriate legislative means to fight the dubious and reprehensible practices of certain cults.
Drizzle in Brussels
The support for legislation designed to prosecute such cases has significantly increased over the years. The opinions of the parliamentary monitoring committee in 2005 and the IACSSO indicated that there is wide cross-party support. However no parliamentary debate took place. Now it's raining in Paris, is perhaps the time to let it drizzle in Brussels.
Here is the original via Blog This
Tref scientology in het hart
De Morgen De Gedachte -
Tref scientology in het hart (1022367) Belgium
Anonymous Summary:
Be firm with Scientology
Luc Willems is a lawyer who is the former reporter of the parliamentary inquiry into the cults and former senator for Open VLD, a liberal Belgian political party. Den Morgen is a reputable somewhat Leftist newspaper.
Belgian law, like French law but unlike English law, is Napoleonic and so depends on the application of general categories such as abuse of trust, extortion, illegal practice of medicine, or theft.
In France this week Scientology was convicted of organized fraud and in the U.S. is under attack by several legal suits brought by former members. In Belgium also several lawsuits against the cult are pending. Luc Willems has been occupied with the problem of cults for years: "Police and public prosecutors still do not have the right weapons to fight cults.”
The power that these organizations want to exercise conflict with basic rights and freedoms. To what extent should the government intervene?
Opinions are divided. Some say people should think for themselves; others feel that when people in distress are being manipulated, there should be more government intervention.
In the field of consumer protection the government in the seventies already set rules and enforcement to protect consumers from deception and misleading sales practices. A clear choice was made in favor of protecting the individual over the unbridled freedom of contract. And with success.
In Scientology the same question arises. Scientology followers are recruited through personal contacts or cover organizations. The potential victim is put through a profound personality test. The outcome of these tests is always similar: there are problems, but they can be cured by Scientology. The potential cult-member then gets a communication course offered at almost no cost or even free. Then a new course follows that costs more and before the cult-member knows he or she is immersed in the Church of Scientology and they pay expensive courses with questionable content and without results.
As long as this is done freely, there still is no problem. Gradually, however, the organization takes control over the cult member's personal life. Then it gets dangerous. Is the member able to get out at any time he wants? Does Scientology respect that choice? Does Scientology allow the ex-member to quietly build up his life again? There are many testimonies of victims against Scientology in this respect. Victims quickly lose 50,000 euros and their lives with it. They go further into debt to be able to take courses.
People in the throes of a personal crisis are particularly vulnerable: a broken relationship, job loss or loneliness makes them vulnerable to the feel-good-courses. The effects in relational and financial terms are dramatic. The same problems occur with therapeutic and other religious cults.
Rain in Paris
The parliamentary inquiry into cults in 1997 identified a series of failures in legislation and administration. Despite fierce criticism from cults, the majority of the recommendations from the inquiry were implemented into guidelines and legislation, and made operational. The most important part was the independent IACSSO, the advisory centre that informs the general public about cults in our country. Addressing the harmful cults was efficient and there followed a number of convictions. One recommendation which would criminalise the core business of cults has so far remained a dead letter: this is the mental destabilization of individuals and the abuse of vulnerable people. Since 2001 France has the About-Picard law which addresses these questions.
This law allows for prosecution to investigate proactively and for the courts to condemn serious violations. In Belgium, the prosecution must rely on more general crimes such as forgery, abuse of trust, extortion, receiving stolen goods, theft, slander, defamation or unlawful practice of medicine. The core of the activity, the abuse of the mental weakness of certain groups of people, remains out of reach. A thoughtful and effective legislation is essential to address certain issues. Police and public prosecutors have to date no appropriate legislative means to fight the dubious and reprehensible practices of certain cults.
Drizzle in Brussels
The support for legislation designed to prosecute such cases has significantly increased over the years. The opinions of the parliamentary monitoring committee in 2005 and the IACSSO indicated that there is wide cross-party support. However no parliamentary debate took place. Now it's raining in Paris, is perhaps the time to let it drizzle in Brussels.
Here is the original via Blog This
Tref scientology in het hart
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