The cult is now actively targeting schools.

Kofi Annan, Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., Voltaire, L. Ron Hubbard.

One of these things is not like the other. If you said “L. Ron Hubbard,” then you are correct.

On May 12th, the Youth for Human Rights International organization came to our school and hosted an assembly on human rights. For the uninformed, this may have seemed like an ordinary assembly to raise awareness on an issue that we, as Catholics, should be aware of. Sure, this got the point across that human rights should be protected. If you still have the booklet that was handed out, take a look inside and flip to the second-to-last page. The five men listed above are called “famous human rights leaders”. I was not aware that L. Ron Hubbard was a “humanitarian” who “advanced human rights by working bravely for what [he] believed in.”

So some guy made a timelapse video of clouds outside his apartment and released it online free of copyright for everyone to use.  An anonymous individual used this timelapse video in his/her “Message to Scientology” video back in January that kicked off the monthly protests that exist now until Scientology is gone.  Parodies resulted, one of them being a bad one from 236.com that uses the same cloud footage.

236, according to Google, is now claiming copyright ownership of the cloud video.

Sure enough, Arianna Huffington’s comedy news site 236.com had posted a derivative parody to YouTube: “A Message to Rudy Giuliani,” which amusingly deviates somewhat from the standard “Message from Anonymous” pattern by pausing part way through while Anonymous fends off his mom. There’s the standard synthesized speech, the standard message from Anonymous, and of course, my cloud timelapse video — which now, I gather from the phrasing of the Googly copyright notice email, 236.com is now claiming to have copyright on.

I think I love Marina Hyde.

Earlier this year, it was discovered that police were handing out in schools leaflets that push the church’s anti-drug programme - the not at all sinisterly named Narconon. Oh, and City of London Chief Superintendent Ken Stewart appeared in a promotional video for the church itself. When pressed, a police spokesman said Ch Supt Stewart had to “build links” with the “diverse” community he policed, and that meant meeting community leaders.

Sweet suffering Xenu! Please not the old “community leaders” flannel … It often keeps me awake that I have got to this stage in my life without knowing who my community leader is. Do you know yours? It feels so much worse than not being able to name one’s MP….

The police do not need to “build links” with the Scientology community, which - despite most recent estimates valuing the British arm of its operation at £57m - had just 1,781 adherents at the last census (with the majority based near the church’s East Grinstead HQ). What links are the police forging with the Jedi community? Because that’s the fourth biggest religion in the land, according to the same census. Frankly, City of London police should spend a little more time reaching out to Luke Skywalker fans, and a little less reaching for the collar of free-speaking children.

Digg here.

The Marlin Democrat published three (3) separate Narconon ads yesterday in its “Community Events” section. Here they are:

CHILD ABUSE PREVENTION

Substance abuse and child abuse are inseparably linked. Nationally, statistics show that drug or alcohol abuse is frequently present in cases of child abuse. Narconon can help by offering addiction counseling, referrals and assessments to centers nationwide. No child should be left behind, call today 800-468-6933 or log on to www.stopaddiction.com

DRUG AND ALCOHOL IN OUR SCHOOLS

Drug abuse and addiction affects school aged children in many ways. Some kids live with an addicted family member while others have started using themselves. If you suspect that someone is struggling with addiction, call Narconon Arrowhead today! Narconon offers free addiction counseling, assessments and referrals to rehabilitation centers nationwide. Call 800-468-6933 or log on to www.stopaddiction.com to speak to a qualified counselor today.

GET YOUR FREE BOOKLET TODAY

To learn about the three barriers to successful recovery call Narconon at 800-468-6933 and receive a free booklet entitled The Life Cycle and Mechanics of Addiction or log on to www.stopaddiction.com. Narconon offers free addiction counseling, assessments and referrals to centers nationwide. Don’t lose your loved one to addiction, call today.

Notice the impersonal, non-local tone. Compare to the other, non-cult ads:

OCC PLANT SALE IS SATURDAY IN ROSEBUD

Operation Christmas Child Plant Sale will be held Saturday beginning at 8 a.m. on the First Baptist Church parking lot on Main Street in Rosebud. Plants for the sale have once again been donated by Donath’s Transplant of Rosebud.

POWERS CHAPEL TO HOLD WORK DAY

Powers Chapel Cemetery Association will hold another work day Saturday in preparation for the annual Powers Chapel Memorial Tribute on Sunday.

SOFTBALL TOURNEY FUNDRAISER IS MAY 24

Westphalia Celebration Park is sponsoring a softball tournament to raise funds for the newly completed concession stand and rest rooms on Saturday. To register a team or for more information, contact Emily Hering at [number].

Seems a bit odd to see a recruiting front for a multi-million dollar international organization using the same advertising space as local churches and softball parks. Something tells me they’re not paying the top dollar they can easily afford to spam the Marlin Democrat’s ad page for the same ad three times.

Good day,

I noticed on Thursday’s Community Events page that there are three separate ads for the group Narconon: [url]

I wanted to inform you that Narconon is a front group for the Church of Scientology. I find it unusual to see an international organization with no local presence advertising three times on a “Community Events” page.

The Church of Scientology can no doubt afford paying for ad space like any other major multinational corporation. Posting three ads on your Community Events column to peddle their medically dangerous and scientifically disproven Narconon vitamin regimine comes across as taking advantage of a community service the Marlin Democrat provides.

Thanks,

Anonymous

Will update if anything happens.

To prevent another London incident from occuring, LOL_Ron_Hubbard from EdinburghLulz rang the city:

I just spoke to the lady in the council protest planning department (and I discussed it with the cop protest liason the other day) and they have okayed the use of the word cult and it will explicitly state this on our protest permit.

After the London Police were denounced worldwide for banning the word “cult” to describe the cult of Scientology, all charges were dropped.  The Guardian:

The Crown Prosecution Service ruled the word was neither “abusive or insulting” to the church and no further action would be taken against the boy….

The summons was issued under the Public Order Act on the grounds that the sign incited religious hatred.

BBC News:

“Our advice is that it is not abusive or insulting and there is no offensiveness (as opposed to criticism), neither in the idea expressed nor in the mode of expression.”

A spokeswoman for the City of London Police said: “The CPS review of the case includes advice on what action or behaviour at a demonstration might be considered to be ‘threatening, abusive or insulting.

“The force’s policing of future demonstrations will reflect this advice.”

And Glosslip has a commentary:

The pseudo-religion has used its “religious” status as a cloak and shield to keep critics and investigators from looking too closely at their fascist activities. Some European Union countries have taken more severe steps to prevent the group from “spreading” throughout their country, and in places like Germany, France and Belgium, the Church of Scientology is under serious attack, with several pending lawsuits and criminal investigations currently working their way through the respective legal and legislative systems.

Only in the United States, UK and Australia is the Church of Scientology treated with kid gloves and given special dispensation. The United States has even gone so far as to give the Church of Scientology and its adherents special tax exemptions no other recognized religions gets, despite hundreds of eyewitness accounts of abusive, cult-like behavior perpetrated by the Church of Scientology.

Congratulations Epic Nose Guy! Frame that summons. Keep it with you until the day you die as a reminder of HOW FUCKING AWESOME YOU ARE.

Someone on the Tubes made this video and linked back to this site!

Digg here.

The word “cult” is banned in the city of London, and The Guardian reports that London cops are cozy with the Scientologists and civil rights activists are frothing mad.

Officers confiscated a placard with the word “cult” on it from the youth, who is under 18, and a case file has been sent to the Crown Prosecution Service….

The teenager refused to back down quoting a 1984 high court ruling from Mr Justice Latey, in which he described the Church of Scientology as a “cult” which was “corrupt, sinister and dangerous”.

After the exchange, a policewoman handed him a court summons and removed his sign….

The City of London Police, who issued the summons, came under fire two years ago when it emerged that more than 20 officers, ranging from constable to chief superintendent, had accepted gifts worth thousands of pounds from the Church of Scientology.

City of London police chief superintendent, Kevin Hurley, praised Scientology for “raising the spiritual wealth of society” during the opening of its £23m headquarters near St Paul’s Cathedral in 2006….

The decision by City of London Police to issue the summons provoked anger from civil liberties campaigners and groups helping former cult members.

Liberty director, Shami Chakrabarti, said: “This barmy prosecution makes a mockery of Britain’s free speech traditions.

“After criminalising the use of the word ‘cult’, perhaps the next step is to ban the words ‘war’ and ‘tax’ from peaceful demonstrations?”

EDIT: This is currently the top story in all topics on digg. And it’s on Gawker. Entheta press ahoy!

EDIT 2: The Register.