Image courtesy OSA|Jenny over at Enturbulation.

I also can’t get over how fixed the “donation” rate is - right down to the penny.

This one is spreading like wildfire.

[Holmes’ visitation] included various tests, confession sessions, tons of reading and physically challenging purification processes”…a series of intensive auditing sessions, some which have lasted for 36 hours straight — with little sleep or food.

Looks like the cult’s org in Belgium was formally charged with fraud.  Google translation, with my attempts to clean it up:

On 11 April and the following days, investigators [raided] the Brussels headquarters of the Church of Scientology, [and] police [took] the hardware and individual records of members of the association. The [org has been] sealed since [to] prohibit access to offices of the Church. The judicial authorities in Brussels acted following a complaint from Actiris, the Brussels body responsible for placement of job seekers. At this stage of the investigation, the investigating magistrate Michel Claise has accused the Church of Scientology [of] fraud. [The] sect [is] suspected of having recruited members by promising a bogus employment contract. The classified ads placed by Scientology [are] tantamount to an offer of paid employment.

In fact, persons [recruited] by the association sign a membership contract and not an employment contract. The Church of Scientology is already the subject of a criminal investigation opened in 1997. In this case, it is charged, as a legal person, as a criminal [?]. It is also question[ed if there was an] infringement of the law on the protection of privacy and illegal practice of medicine. The investigation is on the verge of ending. The two cases could be attached to a possible referral Correctional during the next judicial year.

Here’s the original moonspeak article.

I just noticed, thanks to an article on Slate, that Wikileaks has published the Scientology contract.

From Slate:

The signed agreement is an attempt to limit Scientology’s legal exposure. Church members are required to “forever give up my right to sue the church … for any injury or damage suffered in any way connected with Scientology religious services” (Page 6). In order to participate in services, one must further acknowledge that “no Scientology church is under any duty or obligation whatsoever to return any portion of any religious donation.” (Page 3).

From Wikileaks:

Anyone who wishes to attend or participate in one of Scientology’s religious services MUST sign this document before they can do so. Section two of the contract effectively defines everything Scientology does as a “religious service”.

From the contract:

We’re evil

(That was a paraphrasing.)

Don’t fuck with Dawn.

The new Scientology Channel, a paid channel (good to know where those fixed donations are going) is up and running and cheerfully spreading the CoS propaganda unfettered by bothersome rules about opening a new account after having your first one banned.

For what it’s worth, Youtube hasn’t responded to my previous query… so I sent another one to abuse@youtube.com. If I don’t get a response I’ll assume it was lost and just have to send it again, and again, and again.

Hello,

I am enquiring about your new Account Restoration Fee.

It seems you’ve allowed ChurchofScientology to keep their account even though their secondary AnonymousFacts account was suspended from your service.

A spokesperson for the Church of Scientology states here that they are responsible for the AnonymousFacts account: http://www.nypost.com/seven/03152008/gossip/pagesix/toms_church_counterattacks_101990.htm

Ryan Benno from Valencia, Calif., is shown, as well as Jonathan Brown from Tarzana, Calif., who is making a goofy face in his photo, and Sean Carasov from Los Angeles. None of the men in the videos could be reached for comment.

A spokesperson for the Church of Scientology said, “We absolutely made the videos.”

“We have researchers that have found these men. When you get death threats and bomb threats directly going after the church, we don’t take it lightly.”

From your own ToS agreement:

When a user has posting privileges temporarily disabled on one account, for the duration of the suspension that user is also prohibited from posting material to YouTube using any other account. Attempts to circumvent this rule may result in immediate termination without warning of all accounts.

A user whose account has been terminated is prohibited from accessing, possessing or creating any other YouTube accounts.

I would like to help others get accounts restored, but I’d like to know how much you charge for service re-instatement. I am interested in knowing which ToS violations committed on your servers by users are easily excused by the writing of a cheque.

a) How much is your new “Account Restoration Fee”?

b) Does this new policy apply to individuals or to businesses only?

c) Are all infractions wiped clean with payment, or only specific ones (such as harassment and bullying)?

d) Are payments a flat fee, or are they to be sustained daily/weekly/monthly for the existence of the fee-paying account?

I look forward to your prompt reply.

Thank you for your time,

Gawker, whom the Scientologists previously tried to strongarm into silence, runs a story on the Freewinds.

Bad news for aspiring OT VIIIs: the ship’s been sealed and docked in Curacao due to the discovery of “significant amounts of blue asbestos” all over her. Blue asbestos is the insulating material that’s been banned in the US for years because of all the lung cancer it causes. And, obviously, the 40-year-old cruise ship has been contaminated with it since day one—putting the lives of nearly all OT VIII Scientologists at risk!

I’m betting that Gawker would have previously not found this story newsworthy if the cult didn’t threaten them.  LRH tech flunks again.

The newsblaze site recently made an appeal for anyone who has ever been involved with Scientology to share their stories, be they positive or negative. The first one has come in.

I believe as a direct result of being a Scientologist, my parent was discouraged from taking any medicine for depression which may have been genetic and encouraged to take ineffective untried therapy, resulting in their depression being left untreated. I think there is a possibility that they could have been saved had they taken medication.

The Scientology ad on the page encourages readers to think for themselves.

Radar Magazine has put on their press hat and extracted moar information from the dock where the Fleawinds has been impounded.

The St. Martin newspaper the Daily Herald has allegedly printed the story, and a photo of the article, showing a date of April 28, 2008, is making the rounds on the Internet. Messages left at the editorial offices of the paper were not immediately returned. Reached via phone, a worker at the Curacao Drydock Company tells Radar that the ship has been docked and sealed and that a story about asbestos did run in the newspaper….

An e-mail sen [sic] to a Scientology representative asking what will become of the Freewinds and seeking comment about the alleged cover-up of and exposure to the blue asbestos was not immediately answered.

It can be now be confirmed that the ship (and its fate) is sealed.