Aberrated Hubbard - The Admissions

Aberrated - Characterized by defects, abnormality, or deviation from the usual, typical, or expected course.

The references in this post are taken from what Hubbard called The Affirmations written in 1947.  He wrote and recorded them to be played back while he was in a (in his own words) self-hypnotic trance.  You can read the complete work by clicking here.  Before the naysayers start yelling fraud, the "church" of Scientology was compelled to admit the veracity of this document in Scientology v. Armstrong.  Gerry Armstrong was Hubbard's personal archivist who publicly broke this document as well as others in order to show proof that the "church" was a fraud from the start.  In Armstrong's own words:

"$cientology has set no prerequisites or punishments that I'm aware of for $cientologists reading Hubbard's Admissions, and for that at least I'm grateful. I believe that the Admissions should be read by every $cientologist at whatever point they find themselves on the bridge. $cientologists won't get pneumonia. They might have some good cognitions.(A sudden realization about oneself having to do with Scientology) ® They might become free."

If you were ever in Scientology, you will remember that if anything bad ever happened to you, it was somehow your responsibility.  You had pulled it in somehow, on yourself.  Hubbard, on the other hand, didn't take any responsibility for things that happened, even when it was his fault:

"While taking these drugs I fell in love with Sara. She can be most exciting sexually to me. Because of drugs as above and a hangover from my ex-wife Polly, I sometimes am unexcited by anything sexual. This depresses me."

"Polly was very bad for me sexually. Because of her coldness physically, the falsity of her pretensions, I believed myself a near eunuch between 1933 and 1936 or ? when I found I was attractive to other women. I  had many affairs. But my failure to please Polly made me always pay so much attention to my momentary mate that I derived small pleasure myself. This was an anxiety neurosis which cut down my natural powers."

"In 1938-39 I met a girl in New York, Helen, who pleased me very much physically. I loved her and she me. The affair would have lasted had not Polly found out. Polly made things so miser-able that I finally detested her and became detested by Helen, who two-timed me on my return to New York in 1941. This also reduced my libido. I have had Helen since but no longer want her. She does not excite me and I do not love her."

"In 1942 - December 17th or thereabouts - while training in Miami, Florida, I met a girl named Ginger who excited me. She was a very loose person but pretended a great love for me. From her I received an infection of gonorrhea. I was terrified by it, the consequences of being discovered by my wife, the navy, my friends. I went to a private doctor who treated me with sulfa-thiazole and so forth. I thought I was cured but on a plane headed to Portland, Ore. I found I was not. I took to dosing myself with sulfa in such quantities that I was afraid I had affected my brain. My wife came to Portland. I took what precautions I could. I think actually that the disease was utterly cured very early. This fear further depressed my libido. My wife disliked the act any-way, I believe, even after she had a hysterectomy in 1938. (She was always terrified of childbirth but conceived despite all precautions seven times in five years resulting in five abortions and two children. I am quite fond of my children but my wife always tried to convince me that I hated them.)"

"I carried this fear of the disease to sea with me. I was reprimanded in San Diego in mid-43 for firing on the Mexican coast and was removed from command of my ship. This on top of having sunk two Jap subs without credit, the way my crew lied for me at the Court of Inquiry, the insults of the High Command, all combined to put me in the hospital with ulcers."

And finally (with a shudder):

"You have no fear of what any woman may think of your bed conduct. You know you are a master. You know they will be thrilled. You can come many times without weariness. The act does not reduce your  vitality or brain power at all. You can come several times and still write. Intercourse does not hurt your chest or make you sore. Your arms are strong and do not ache in the act. Your own pleasure is not dependent on the woman's. You are interested only in your own sexual pleasure. If she gets any that is all right but not vital. Many women are not capable of pleasure in sex and anything adverse they say or do has no effect whatever upon your pleasure. Their bodies thrill you. If they repel you, it merely means they themselves are too frigid or prudish to be bothered with. They are unimportant in bed except as they thrill you. Your sexual power is magnificent and they know it. If they are afraid of it, that is their loss. You are not affected by it. You have no fear if they conceive. What if they do? You do not care. Pour it into them and let fate decide. The slipperier they are the more you enjoy it because it means their mucous is running madly with pleasure. There is nothing wrong in the sex act. Nothing any woman may say can change your opinion. You are a master. You are as sensitive and sexy as Pan. Lord help women when you begin to fondle them. You are master of their bodies, master of their souls as you may consciously wish. You have no karma to pay for these acts."

So you see, many of his psycho-sexual problems were caused not by others, but his own inability to keep it in his pants.  Years later, in Scientology he made all sorts of demands on his parishioners, especially Sea Org members, making it an offense to have sexual relations outside the marriage bed.  Masturbation is frowned on for all members of the "church", and is even on the sec checks but for Hubbard? Have a look:

"(c) That masturbation was no sin or crime and did not injure me. That no sexual practice has ever dulled me.
(d) That things sexual thrill me. That I am now returned to the same feelings I had at 16 about sex where excitement is concerned. That naked women and pornography excite me greatly. That Sara excites me greatly and gives me much pleasure.
(i) That I am fortunate in losing Polly and my parents, for they never meant well by me.
(z) That I need not subscribe to any moral code of sex anywhere."

Alright, that's enough aberration on the Second Dynamic (In Scientology, the second dynamic refers to family, children, personal relationships and sex.)  Now, I want to go into his relationship to the occult briefly:

"(o) That I believe in my gods and spiritual things.

(u) That my code is to be all things a "magus" must be, that I am those things. That I burn high and bright and will last as a potent and brilliant force until well after this century has run.

(w) That this hypnosis will not fade, but will increase in power as time advances.
(x) That my magical work is powerful and effective.

(e) That anything which impedes my zest for living is small and puny and will dwindle before the power of these statements. That nothing in me which is evil can have heard these statements and commands without disappearing."

"Your psychology is good. You worked to darken your own children. This failure, with them, was only apparent. The evident lack of effectiveness was "ordered." The same psychology works perfectly on everyone else. You use it with great confidence. Nothing can intervene between you and your Guardian. She cannot be displaced because she is too powerful. She does not control you. She advises you. You may or may not take the advice. You are an adept and have a wonderful and brilliant mind of your own."

"You have magnificent power but you are humble and calm and patient in that power. For you control all forces under you as you wish. The strength of your Guardian aids you always and can never depart or be repelled. Your faith in her and in God is unswerveable, blind, powerful and you never, never doubt their good intent toward you. They work with you. You help them exert their plans. They have faith unbounded in you. You will never forget these incantations. They are holy and are now become an integral part of your nature. You enter the greatest phase yet of work and devotion and power and have perfect control without further fear."

"Men's chains fall from you. Your head is high. Your back is straight. You can experience no evil or illness. You are wholly protected. You cannot guide yourself wrong for you are guided as a crown prince. Material things are yours for the asking. Men are your slaves. Elemental spirits are your slaves.(this is dark witchcraft) You are power among powers, light in the darkness, beauty in all. You are not sleepy or tired ever. You do not sleep unless you will it consciously. Sleep to you is a deep trance. Nothing can touch you in that trance because it would not dare."


"Your psychology is advanced and true and wonderful. It hypnotizes people. It predicts their emotions, for you are their ruler." (Again, his need to control and rule over others.)

"You never speak ill of another because you are too powerful and may curse them. You love everyone. Even when you use force on people, you cannot hate them. You have no hate or jealousy in you. You are not in contest with anyone. God and your Guardian and your own power bring destruction on those who would injure you. But you never speak of this for you are kind. A sphere of light, invisible to others, surrounds you as a protecting globe. All forces bounce away from you off this."

"The most thrilling thing in your life is your love and consciousness of your Guardian. She materializes for you. You have no doubts of her. She is real. She is always with you. You love her very much. You trust her. You see and hear her. She is not your master. You have a mighty spiritual will of your own. She is an adviser and as such is respected by you. She is wise and worthy and never changes shape. Your faith in her as in God is blind and unshaken ever. She is interested in you and amused by you. She does not criticize you. She does not frown on your sexual acts but advises you on better game. That she is with you always does not mean that she sees you as indecent ever. You cannot offend her. You cannot repel her. You are too good. You respect her and you love her and appreciate her advice. You are good always because you want her to feel good. This does not apply to sex. She has never and will never forbid you pleasures. She will never censure you. She is lovely and beautiful and radiant and part of your life. You can see her consciously whenever you wish. You are never startled by her because you are not afraid of her. You are partly in her
plane, she partly in yours as you wish to see her. She has copper red hair, long braids, a lovely Venusian face, a white gown belted with jade squares. She wears gold slippers. Thus you see her. (an incredible imagination he had) You can read with ease anything she cares to show you. You can talk with her and audibly hear her voice above all others. You and she are too powerful to permit any interference. You can work alone whenever you wish because she protects you. You and she are friends. You both have a higher master. She can teach you much. You love her. But she does not own your will, cannot affect your will and you are powerful enough to depend upon yourself. You do not consign will to her, ever. She advises. You do not have to take the advice. She cannot weaken your will. You have no fears of consequences  if you fail to heed her. You can also be right for you know more of time than she does. She is wise and beautiful and powerful. Others may not see her, and you need not look at her or talk to her when others are around for they might not understand. You can talk to her "in your own mind" when others are near."

This is not the L. Ron Hubbard that he, or Scientology has presented to the world.  This was a very sad, psychologically ill being with a God complex.  He sought to rule and control others, women especially, with no apparent feeling for the needs of others, only himself.  He used self-hypnosis to convince himself that these statements were true and to re-enforce these implants (post-hypnotic suggestions).

The question now is, would you really want to follow this man as your Messiah?  Even more importantly, would you want your children to follow him?

Thanks for dropping by today.  I hope you will return next time.  Once again, if you have any questions or comments, I would be glad to see them.  Also once again, my everlasting thanks to Arnie Lerma for keeping all this data safe and available for research on his web site.

The Carrot, The Stick and a Lump of Sugar

"If Scientology is so bad, why did you stay in so long?"  How many of us have been asked that question?  There is really no single good answer to that question but there are a few answers that might give one an insight as to why a person might stay in even after they have seen some bad things, or have come to the realization that Scientology has not done what it promised.

From the very first time you walk into a Scientology Org (Place of business), You are exposed to the false promises of Scientology.  In Dianetics, you are told that you can go "Clear".  This means that you will have full objective memory of your entire life, and be free of illness.  In Scientology, you are told that if you buckle down and study hard, spend a whole lot of money, and do everything you are told, you can go full OT. (Operating Thetan.  Supposes that the Spirit has all the powers of a God)  Which is interpreted by L. Ron Hubbard as "A thetan who is completely rehabilitated and can do everything a thetan should do, such as move [matter, energy, space, and time (MEST)] and control others from a distance, or create his own universe; a person who is able to create his own universe or, living in the MEST universe is able to create illusions perceivable by others at will, to handle MEST universe objects without mechanical means and to have and feel no need of bodies or even the MEST universe to keep himself and his friends interested in existence".

As a staff member, or member of the Sea Org, you are told that you are responsible for accomplishing something that has never been done before on planet Earth.  You are going to create a world without war, crime and insanity. The mechanism by which Scientology plans to achieve this goal is by the process of "clearing" the planet.  You are also promised that you will receive all of your training and auditing (Scientology counseling), at no cost.

The above, then, is the carrot.  Always dangled in front of you but out of reach, designed to keep you plodding along.

Now let's take a look at the stick.  The stick, in Scientology is what they call "ethics and justice".  It is designed to accomplish only this:  To keep you in line, and to keep you from making waves.  What they tell you is that you cannot go up the "bridge to total freedom" if your ethics are not 100% in.  They tell you that the purpose of ethics is defined as "rationality toward the greatest good for the greatest number of dynamics" (parts of life, such as self, family, groups, etc.). The purpose of ethics is said to be "paving the way for getting tech in."  But Hubbard also said, "the purpose of ethics is to remove counter-intentions from the environment. Having accomplished that, the purpose becomes to remove other intentiondness from the environment." What that statement really means is that anyone or anything that stands in the way of Scientology's stated goals of "clearing the world", is to be removed. 

So what if you have read something by Hubbard that you totally disagree with?  First, you are told that you have a misunderstood word, or words, that are getting in the way of your understanding of Hubbard's infallible logic.  If you have looked up these words in the dictionary, and defined them to yourself as perfectly as a human is able and then still disagree, then you are sent to ethics.  In ethics, it is pounded into you that if your really got what Hubbard was saying that you would, of course, agree.  Or maybe it is that you are connected to someone who is antagonistic to Scientology.  Also if you are ill. you are probably connected to someone who doesn't take to Scientology's ways. At that point, you may be pulled off your course to take another course called the PTS/SP course.  (Potential Trouble Source/ Suppressive Person).  And of course you will be expected to pay for this course.

If you are staff, or Sea Org, this applies to your post (job) as well.  If your statistics for the week are lower than they were the week before, you are assigned a lower condition and sent to ethics to see how you can raise them.  This applies to every staff member in Scientology.  It looks, at first glance, like it makes sense.  But let's look a little closer.

You are a dishwasher in an org, and your usual statistic (number of plates washed), is two thousand per week.  Now this week, you have only washed 1900 plates.  Your stat is down.  You have automatically gone into a lower condition than normal.  You will have to apply the Scientology conditions formula to get back up again.  It does not matter if staff members have been shipped out for training, or have quit.  It does not matter if there are fewer Scientologists on course or auditing that week.  In Scientology it is your condition and your responsibility.

And if applying the ethics conditions does not fix your problem, not to worry, there is always justice.  In Scientology, justice equals punishment.  This can come in the form of having to prove your value to Scientology, usually in some sort of financial form, all the way up to being declared a Suppressive Person (excommunicated).  Get punished enough, and they figure you will fall back in line and be a good little drudge.

As for the lump of sugar, that is done in a gradient as all things are in Scientology, only this one is in a downward gradient.  As you grow in Scientology, the lumps of sugar are smaller and they come with less frequency.  At first, whether you are on staff or a public person on a course or auditing, it seems like everyone is always clapping for you and giving you kudos.  (Can anyone say love bombing?)  Then as you go along, more and more is expected of you with less and less praise.  Finally, it boils down to 2 or three words.  You get a WD (well done) on your paperwork if you meet expectations, and if you exceed expectations, you might get a VWD (very well done).  Unless you are Tom Cruise.  Then you will get a medal and called the most valuable Scientologist on Earth.  Which has pissed off a great deal of staff and Sea Org personnel. But mostly you accept the WD or VWD because it is part of the human condition to need at least a little praise along with being knocked down all the time. Everyone needs some kind of validation in life.  If you have ever been on staff in Scientology, you know all about invalidation.

Thank you so much for sticking it out with me.  Please understand that what I post here is my own viewpoint from things that I perceived while I was in the "church", as well as from my research since I have been out.  I realize that other people may have different views and if so, I welcome all comments.  Please remember to share this post and to subscribe to this blog.  Again, I thank you.

Scientology, A Church Built on Quicksand

From it's great foundations (Dianetics), all the way up to it's golden tipped spires (OT8), The Giant Cathedral Scientology is and always has been doomed to sink into the mire.  Even now, it's mammoth walls are crumbling inward like a massive volcano crashes in on itself to form a great caldera.  Just a big hole in the ground.

Dianetics, the foundation of the church, never did work the way Hubbard wished it to, and the only evidence of it's healing properties working is purely anecdotal.  There are no medical studies, anywhere, that prove the workability of this "technology".  Hubbard claimed that a person's awareness is influenced by the stimulus-response of the reactive mind. Achieving the state of Clear means a person has overcome the reactive mind and is in complete control of his analytical mind. According to Hubbard: "A Clear is a being who no longer has his own reactive mind, and therefore suffers none of the ill effects the reactive mind can cause. The Clear has no engrams which, when re-stimulated, throw out the correctness of his computations by entering hidden and false data."  According to Dianetics, almost all disease is psycho-somatic and can be cured by the eradication of the reactive mind.  A "clear"  is supposed to have superior mental abilities and a perfect memory.  So does it work that way?

In August 1950, amidst the success of Dianetics, Hubbard held a demonstration in Los Angeles' Shrine Auditorium where he presented a young woman called Sonya Bianca (a pseudonym) to a large audience including many reporters and photographers as 'the world's first Clear.' He had also seeded the audience with a few of his followers to ask the questions, which had been rehearsed with Ms Bianca before the event.  However, despite Hubbard's claim that she had "full and perfect recall of every moment of her life", Bianca proved unable to answer questions from the audience testing her memory and analytical abilities, including the question of the color of Hubbard's tie. Hubbard explained Bianca's failure to display her promised powers of recall to the audience by saying that he had used the word "now" in calling her to the stage, and thus inadvertently froze her in "present time," which blocked her abilities.

So what, really, is Dianetics.  Simply put it is a combination of partial Freudian Psychology and a light form of Hypnosis.  Before I had ever heard of Dianetics, I was a highly trained hypnotist.  I know when I see hypnosis.  And in my studies to become a hypnotherapist, I had to study a whole lot of Freud.  And because Hubbard was too lazy a student, (Click here to see his college transcript My thanks to Arnie Lerma), to study anything in depth, he was never really able to put something together that would really work any everyone.  Hell, even full Freudian therapy doesn't work on everyone.

And then, in January 1951, the New Jersey Board of Medical Examiners instituted proceedings against the Hubbard Dianetic Research Foundation in Elizabeth for teaching medicine without a license.  So he turned it into a spiritual science instead.  Separation of church and state, you know.  But he knew that Dianetics didn't work and he had to come up with a way to keep people in and get new people in.  So he named his new venture The Church of Scientology and devised several spiritual, (and costly), steps before you can go "clear".  And guess what?  Ron knew they didn't work either.  And so does existing Management.  Otherwise they wouldn't keep changing their grade chart.  All the way up to and including their precious OT8.

One example of the lower actions is Level 0, the first action once you step on their Bridge to Total Freedom. On the grade chart it reads:
Communications Release - Grade 0
F1: Ability to communicate freely with anyone on any subject. Likes to
outflow. 
F2: Willing for others to communicate to him freely on any subject.
F3: Will permit others to communicate about anything to others.

Have you ever tried to have a real conversation with a Scientologist?  You would get a more intelligent discussion from a first grader.

I will just give you the examples from the OT levels.  The original abilities gained written by Hubbard will be in red.  The updated versions will be in blue.  And of course I will provide commentary as always. Let's take a look:

Section I OT -  Extroverts a being and brings about an awareness of himself as a thetan (spirit) in relation to others and the physical universe.

 New OT I - A fresh, causative OT viewpoint of the MEST  (matter, energy, space and time) universe and other beings.

Section II OT - Ability to confront the whole track . (The whole track is supposed to mean from the second you came into existence, hundreds of trillions of years ago - all of your lifetimes)

 OT II - Ability to confront the whole track. (no change on this one)

 Section III OT - Return of full self determinism.

 OT III - Return of self-determinism, freedom from overwhelm. (they added something)

Section IV OT - Certainty of self as a being.  (I am certain I am a being, aren't you?)

New OT IV - Eradication of the last vestiges of the effects of drugs on the being. (OK, now I get it.  I am screwed up because somebody drugged my soul.  They actually believe this.) 

Section V OT - Re-familiarizes a thetan exterior with the physical universe. (Does this mean you get to see stuff that isn't there?  L.S.D. costs a whole lot less.) 

New OT V - Completion of New OT V Rundowns and ready to begin Solo NED for OTs. (Solo NED for OTs, also known as NOTS = Self run New Era Dianetics for OTs) 

 Section VI OT - Ability to operate freely as a thetan exterior and to act pan-determinedly, extends the influence of the thetan to the universe of others. (Wow!  You could be a Super Crime Fighter!)

 New OT VI - Ability to audit Solo NED for OTs. (Meh.)

Section VII OT -  Rehabilitation of intention.  (Works for me, I intend to stay the hell away from Scientology.) 

New OT VII - Cause over life. (Uh, what?) 

 Section VIII OT - Ability to be at cause knowingly and at will over thought, life, form, matter, energy, space and time, subjective and objective. (Oh yeah!  That's what I'm talking about.) 

 New OT VIII - Handles the primary reason for amnesia on the whole track. (That's kind of vanilla isn't it?)


Why were they changed?  It is simple really.  There were too many people walking out of Scientology upon completion of OT7 and OT8.  They didn't get what they were promised.  Pretty smart of Mr Miscavige really.  If you don't promise them anything, they can't complain when they don't get anything.

Thank you so much for sticking it out with me to the end.  If you know someone who is still in the church or someone who is thinking about getting in, please share this with them.  Who knows?  Miracles have been known to happen.  If you have any comments or questions, I welcome them.  Again thank you.

OH!  Wait!  One last thought.  After you have learned how to communicate like a pro, and have spent $700 thousand dollars to get to OT8, what are you going to be like?  Watch this:

Another Death brought to you by Scientology

After you have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars and are in debt up to your eyebrows, how does this "church", help you?  Read on.  It would be bad enough if it were a few isolated cases.  But this goes on all the time in Scientology.  Their policy of secrecy makes it difficult for these stories to get out to the public, but more are coming out all the time.  Click Here to see some of the many deaths directly related to Scientology.

Based upon the story "Death of a Scientologist," by Tori Marlan, Published
in The Chicago Reader August 16, 2002

January 16, 2003
By Rick Ross

Scientologist Greg Bashaw reached far beyond the mythical plateau of achievement
that Scientologists call "clear." Bashaw rose to Operating Thetan Level 7 or "OT7."

The highest level a Scientologist can hope for is OT8.

But after 20 years of Scientology courses, auditing and training Bashaw killed
himself.

He was married and left behind a teenage son. Bashaw was once a successful
advertising executive, but he died broke, deeply in debt and unemployed. And the
church he had dedicated so much of his life to abandoned him through
"excommunication."

Greg's father Bob struggles to understand what happened to his son. He says,
"I knew him and this wasn't him -- What the hell happened here?"

However, Bob knew about his son's dedication to Scientology. Early on Greg
borrowed thousands of dollars from his father for Scientology-related courses.

Bob says Greg used one of the loans to go with Laura to the church's Los Angeles
complex for course work; he paid it back with interest, explaining that he'd felt
pressured by the church to pay. He wrote his father, "Our financial officer for the
Church informed us we would need another $1,700 to pay for the package we were
securing. It was imperative to get it this past week; otherwise the annual price
increase, which he had held off for us through administrative fancywork, would go
into effect. Simply put, if we didn't send the money Wednesday, the prices would
have gone up on us by $500."

Greg's parents were divorced. His mother quickly realized that her son was involved
in something she felt was potentially dangerous. Bob received a letter from his ex-
wife during 1981 citing an article about Scientology in Reader's Digest titled,
"Scientology: Anatomy of a Frightening Cult."

Greg's mother said in her letter that when she'd questioned Greg about the article,
he claimed it was part of a conspiracy contrived against Scientology by
"psychiatrists."

Greg's mother passed away before her son's suicide, but it was clear that she was
deeply concerned about his involvement with Scientology.

Bob instead essentially accepted his son's involvement and did nothing.

Bob knew about Scientology's bad press, but when Greg said the stories about were
not true, Bob accepted it.

Greg unsuccessfully tried to recruit his father.

Bob continued to have nagging doubts, but says, "There wasn't any big red flag that
went up. And that's really what I was looking for."

At times Bob defended Greg to other family members. He said that he would "do battle"
with Greg's aunts. In a letter to one of them he wrote: "The horror stories of
Scientology victims and my imagination, plus what I have read, certainly conjure up
rage and anxiety." But he couldn't bring himself to take any action. He said,
"Integrity does not permit me to have a loving relationship with him while covertly
working against what he sincerely believes in."

Bob concluded that his son was "free to make his own choices in life."

Greg largely cut his mother off after she criticized Scientology. Bob was afraid the
same thing would happen to him. A bitter divorce had isolated him from his other
children, but Greg had been away at college during that period. Bob wondered, "Do
I take this position to not alienate him because he is the one of three children of
mine that I am in touch with? The only one I can share my feelings and he truly
shares his feelings with me? The answer is no."

So Bob decided to remain silent about Scientology.

Greg went to Clearwater, Florida, a bastion of Scientology, to take courses, which
strained his budget. His wife and son did not accompany him because it cost too much.
Money became tight for the Bashaw family, despite the fact that Greg earned a large
income.

However, like most Scientologists Greg thought it was all worth it. He wrote,
"Scientology has saved my ass, that's for sure. Now I'm unstuck, in the know, and working
towards completion. It will be a new life when I get back."

Greg even believed his training enabled him to talk to the dead. He wrote Bob, "It's
easy, like talking on a telephone, when you have the hang of it." Greg didn't divulge
details because his talks with the dead "happened in the context of formal auditing
sessions and so are confidential."

Bob remembers thinking, "What is this crap?" He considered doing something and claims
he knew it was "bullshit." But in the end he did nothing. He rationalized; that maybe
it is possible to speak with the dead?

Greg seemed to have a "good life." Married with a son, living in a two-story house on
16 acres of land in Barrington Hills, Illinois. And he was a highly paid successful
executive at a well-known advertising firm.

But Greg was spending large sums of money on Scientology. Greg not only paid for costly
courses; he donated even more cash to the controversial church. So much that they made
him a "patron" of the International Association of Scientologists.

And Greg Bashaw decided to take on Scientology's critics by harassing them at anti-cult
conferences.

"None of my encounters with Greg were pleasant," says Reg Alev, a former executive
director of the now defunct Cult Awareness Network (CAN), which was bankrupted by
Scientology lawsuits. He says Greg even confronted him on the way to the bathroom,
yelling about CAN being a terrorist organization. Alev adds, "He was extremely
confrontational and loud."

Jim Beebe also once associated with CAN says Greg picketed outside the CAN office and
even outside staff members' homes. In 1992 Greg and other Scientologists sued the group,
claiming religious discrimination, when they were refused membership. And Greg filed a
complaint with the Illinois Department of Human Rights.

Cynthia Kisser, executive director of CAN after Alev, said Greg's actions were part of
an organized effort to "harass and disrupt" the network. She says that during the early
to mid 90s Scientologists like Greg filed 50 nearly identical lawsuits and human rights
complaints against CAN. Eventually they were dismissed, but they took their toll on the
organization financially. Scientology eventually sued CAN into bankruptcy.

Greg left one advertising firm for another in 1997, but it was demotion according to his
father. Bob later found out Greg quit after his old firm took on Prozac as a client, a
drug that Scientology's Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) claimed could lead to
"homicidal rages," suicide and had tried to get the FDA to ban.

Scientology believes they have the answers for mental health and are totally opposed to
psychiatry and psychiatric drugs such as Prozac.

Bob says he could tell Greg was changing. His conversation was stilted and often he just
repeated what someone else said. He wasn't his usual self. A former professional associate
characterized Greg as "a deep thinker," but observed that his old friend's "creativity was
not at the same level of consistency." Greg admitted that this was "connected to the auditing.
" Auditing is the intensive question and answer sessions Scientologists undergo with their
"auditors," in an effort to supposedly "clear" themselves.

In September of 2000 Greg Bashaw returned once again to Clearwater for more Scientology
training. His father finally said, "Greg, you're spending a hell of a lot of time down
there. I don't understand it. You're spending time away from your job, and you're spending
time away from your family." But Greg only answered, "You're right, dad. You don't understand
it."

Greg was now an OT7 and he didn't get back from this trip for a month. When he saw his father
again he admitted that he'd been fired from his job.

When Bob met with Greg later after that trip he learned that his son planned to kill himself.
Greg was going to drive to a forest preserve and drink a bottle of Drano. Bob said, "I'm
holding him, and he's saying he failed everybody, he isn't worth anything, he's a total
failure."

Greg's last trip to Clearwater was apparently a disaster. "They threw him out," Bob says.
Greg told his father that his church said they couldn't help him and sent him away, telling
him never to return.

At this point the reality of his son's situation hit Bob hard. He said, "This is when the
whole thing hit the fan with me. I realized what the hell [Scientology] had done to him."

Bob wanted his son to go to a psychiatric hospital and he says Greg's wife agreed. "That
surprised me," Bob said, but it seems by this time Greg's wife had quit Scientology.

Greg checked into the psychiatric ward of a local hospital, such places are anathema to
Scientologists who ardently oppose psychiatry.

The following morning in the psych unit, the first thing Bob told his son was that Scientology
was evil and that it was his enemy. Greg seemed upset by this. "It was as if I'd slapped him
in the face," says his father.

Greg tried to commit suicide twice in the next couple of months. His teenage son found him
the first time on the floor, almost dead. The second time he emailed a suicide note to a
friend who alerted the police. They arrived just in time to save his life again.

Then Greg promised his father he wouldn't try to kill himself again.

A Scientology spokesperson denied that the church excommunicated Greg. She said, "He seemed
to be having some rather large troubles and he left the church to go sort out his life." But
she added, "Frankly, no Scientologist would ever seek psychiatry as a solution to their
problems."

When asked why so many former Scientologists so ardently oppose the church its spokesperson said,
"There's only one reason and one reason only, they have lots of words they don't understand."
A cryptic allusion that whatever failure there was it was a personal failure, rather than
anything Scientology did.

In the Spring of 2001, things seemed hopeful. Greg was working again. An old friend found him a
job. Bob visited with his son and he seemed to be getting better.

But Bob still wondered would he be alright? He wrote his son about a retreat for cult survivors
in Ohio called Wellspring. Greg wasn't interested. He responded that "One of the things that
happens when you have the bad experiences that I've had is that people assume your own beliefs
are faulty." Greg rejected any possibility of professional help Wellspring might offer.

Greg then began to shut down. Phone messages from his father went unanswered and letters were
returned. Greg finally wrote back and explained, "It's almost as if I had a stroke on a mental
and spiritual level, and I have to start with learning how to use a fork again, metaphorically."

Greg Bashaw finally admitted, "For the last 10 years I was fooling myself regarding the services
I was taking [with Scientology], and whether they were advancing me. I wanted them to be... In
retrospect, I would have been better the last ten years to have focused on simply building a
family life, and on work, as most people do... Being on the services the whole time was almost
unbelievably demanding in terms of time, money and commitment. The fact that it did not 'pay off'
has been an exceptionally bitter pill to swallow. The fact that at the end of the road I ended up
in worse shape than I'd ever been in my entire life... well, that has been completely
irreconcilable with any concept of reality."

But Greg seemed to be considering his future, He said, "I would like to get to a point where the
focus of my life is not on my disability. It's been very difficult talking to people lately,
because typically the whole conversation pivots around how well I'm doing or not doing."

But whatever optimism Greg expressed it dissipated by that summer. A former Scientologist he
confided in said Greg told him that he "had broken something that the Church of Scientology could
fix, [but] they weren't going to fix it."

During the last two months of his life Greg had no work. He stayed at home and deteriorated. He
owed the bank $27,000 and $29,000 on credit cards. Bob says that early that year Greg's wife
talked about suing Scientology to recover the money they'd paid in advance for auditing and
course work. Bob says he was told they had "a balance of nearly $200,000 in credit."

However, Greg wouldn't sue. He wrote his father, "It would subject me and my family to a great
deal of shame and embarrassment, and additionally such a stance does not reflect what I believe
to be true."

His old friend got a call from Greg. "He asked me, 'What can I do?' He was in torment. He felt
like he was losing control. I didn't have an answer. I asked him to come here right away." Greg
drove for hours to his friend's home in another town. His friend recalled, "He arrived at my house,
coherent but just barely hanging on. Greg was shaking and had all but lost the ability to function."

Greg agreed to check himself into a hospital. At first he refused medication and counseling. As a
devoted Scientologist he had been drilled to resist the evils of psychiatry.

Bashaw had spent more than 20 years in Scientology. He gave the group everything he had spiritually,
mentally, and financially. He wanted to lose his "reactive mind," but in the end he just lost his
mind. His father says, "There were periods of time he was rational and he realized he was losing
it and it was a terror, a horrible thing to him."

A former long-term member of Scientology explained that the church claims "it has the solution to
all your problems. Then you realize most of the problems you had, Scientology created. That former
member, who met Bashaw concluded, "Greg knew this but couldn't accept it. Greg Bashaw could not let
go of the mental indoctrination he'd swallowed hook, line, and sinker -- he had a hard time
struggling with the fact that he'd been living a lie. Everything he thought was real wasn't real
anymore."

Greg wrote his father for the last time during the summer of 2002, "I wanted to call on Father's Day
but was hospitalized and had no calling card. My condition worsened dramatically three weeks ago.
I have been in the hospital the last two weeks and am now moving to an intensive outpatient status."

But despite his condition Greg still insisted that his wife not sue Scientology. He said, "They would
put 50 lawyers on the case. They would employ private investigators, and the like, to help win their
case. And the stress would be enormous... If you could get her to consider these points, as I have
repeatedly over the last few months, it would be greatly appreciated."

Greg then said, "I told them this morning I still felt depressed and suicidal," and ended cryptically,
"P.S. Thanks for being a great dad."

After leaving the hospital Greg drove to his friend's house and had dinner. It seemed like he was
recovering and he talked about further treatment. But just three days later Greg Bashaw pulled onto
the shoulder of a road, duct taped a hose from the exhaust pipe of his car into a window and sealed it
tightly with a towel. He then sat in the passenger seat until he took his last breath of carbon monoxide.

Greg Bashaw ended his life just like Scientology's founder L Ron Hubbard's son had 25 years earlier.

The police found a suicide note in his hotel room. It said simply, "Goodbye [son], you were a good buddy.
Love dad."

Another OT8 Speaks Out

This gentlemen has done the entire 'bridge to total freedom'
listen to his one page sworn as true-notarized statement.
The author wishes this to be re-posted widely for the world to
know the true nature of Scientology.


Michael Pattinson
Beverly Hills, Ca 90211
20 September 1997


TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN

I strongly feel that it is my civic duty to bring to the attention of
the competent authorities of the United States and other concerned countries
a matter of severe abuses and destructive activities by the "Church" of
Scientology. I am at their disposition for more information on all of this.

I was shocked at the use of top celebrities by Scientology to try and
give an impression of it which, per my own experiences, is a false impression.
When I compare the ridiculous charges made by Scientology against the
German government with what I know Scientology (underlined) has been
doing itself I find a very strong similarity indeed. I have decided to speak out
about this publicly.

I was, until earlier this year, one of Scientology's "celebrities". I
am a professional artist, having a 25 year career internationally with over
99% sales. I was in Scientology for 23 years, did very many courses, and
reached the highest available level of "New O.T.8." My knowledge of the inner
workings of Scientology is extensive. I have information about the many
instances of abuses of current and former Scientology members and of lies
Scientology has generated about itself to give a wrong public impression.

Among the many things I can relate, here are just a few from recent times:

1) From 1991 to 1996 I was the subject of viscous machinations by
several "churches" of Scientology to destroy my name and repute, and
to involve me in expensive "justice handling" within the organization.
Apart from the horrific emotional stress over five years it cost me well over
$120,000 to clear my name of accusations of things I had never done
in the first place! I have full documentation of all these multiple abuses.

2) In June of 1996 I was held against my will in the Scientology, Clearwater,
Florida facility and "ordered" to pay $7,400 before they would let me out
of the room. I did not want to pay for what the two staff members insisted
I must have, and what ensued was a verbal battle, emotional trauma and
an attempt at financial extortion. After a time I managed to escape the
physical detention, but two "Sea Org" members chased me right out into
the streets of Clearwater to try to recapture me. I did not pay the money. This
incident is on file with the Clearwater Police Department.

3) In June of 1991 I was forced to pay, despite vehement protestations, the
sum of $7,400 to Scientology on the "Freewinds" ship. The ruse used
on that Wednesday was that if I did not pay then they would withhold my passport
from me until I did pay. They did so and I had to pay the money to get
it back.

4) At the end of 1996 I was subjected to [a] horrible kind of "religious
deprogramming" in the Scientology "Fort Harrison Hotel". This was done,
using an "E-meter", by a top official of the "Religious technology Center" (RTC)
namely Mr. Marty Rathbun. I was interrogated for several hours on the most
intimate personal religious beliefs (Christian) and his actions were designed
clearly to get me to give up my Christian religious beliefs in exchange
for RTC's "eligibility authorization" to read a confidential publication
about a defective "OT level" I had previously completed (OT 7).
His utter contempt for my religious beliefs were all to apparent. He felt
that all other religions apart from Scientology should be destroyed and
probably would be in time by Scientology, using RTC's programs
of "eligibility's" as the means of forcing people to give up other faiths.

I also had to undergo many hours of 'false data removal",,,to try to
"get me to realize" that the ONLY valid religion was Scientology.

It did not work.

My considered, personal opinion is that Scientology is definitely
NOT A RELIGION.

These are a few of the many things I can testify to.

I declare under penalty of perjury under California Laws that the above
is true and correct per my own personal experiences.

20 September 1997 Sea Beach California

Please read about his life in Scientology by Clicking Here.

America's Official Religion: Scientology

Please watch this very timely video.  If you wish to help rid the world of this insidious  cult, please CLICK HERE!



Since January 2008, the internet collective Anonymous has been actively engaged in exposing and destroying the global criminal cult of Scientology. The Project Chanology element of Anonymous, in collaboration with other "old guard" critics and former members, continues to expose the abuses of this cult, enabling more and more victims to speak out.

Scientology's main source of funding comes in the form of "donations" for "religious" courses. The cost for these courses can exceed hundreds of thousands of dollars. These courses, unlike those of any other religion in the United States, are tax deductible due to a secret settlement agreement reached in 1993 between the IRS and Scientology.

Please contact your Congressman and ask why Scientology is America's official religion.

This special treatment by the IRS literally provides the money that allows Scientology to continue its abuse of human rights, exploitation of child labor, suppression of free speech and worldwide human trafficking.

To learn more visit: http://www.taxthecult.com/

For more information on protesting Scientology, to get involved in your local area, or to learn more, please visit Project Chanology/Anonymous at:
http://www.whyweprotest.net

The Scientologists are even losing in Clearwater

What I find funny is that this is happening at the Mecca of Scientology Delivery.  If you want to find out more about this despicable organization, CLICK HERE!

CLEARWATER, Florida -- Ruth Eckerd Hall announced Thursday afternoon it has canceled an upcoming fundraiser after negative reaction poured in due to its ties to the Church of Scientology.
It started with a mass email sent out by the non-profit music venue Wednesday morning. The email was an invitation to a January event at the Church, featuring David Pomeranz, a known Scientologist.
But it went to Ruth Eckerd's entire mailing list -- from anyone who has attended one show there to major donors -- leaving some furious about being asked to go to a Scientology function.
Some who received the email questioned if it was a violation of privacy and want to know who has their personal information.
On the Hall's Facebook fan page, one person wrote "I find it degrading and beyond insulting."
Another took it a step further, posting it "actually makes me want to stop being a member.  If you continue to partner with Scientology, I will be unable to associate myself with you."

You can read the full story and watch the video here!

The prison ship, Freewinds

This is but one example of people held against their will in the Church of Scientology.  For more examples of how this so-called church treats it's parishioners,  Please CLICK HERE!

An Australian resident claims the Church of Scientology imprisoned her on a cruise ship for over a decade in a bid to stop her leaving the religion.

Swiss-born Valeska Paris told ABC's Lateline that she was forced to live on the ship 'The Freewinds' for 12 years from the age of 17, after signing a contract binding her to the church for "a billion years".

"I did not want to be there, I made it clear I did not want to be there and that was considered bad ethics, meaning it was considered not right," she said.

"They take your passport when you go on the ship and you're in the middle of an island."

At the age of six, Ms Paris moved from Switzerland to Scientology's headquarters in England with her parents, who had joined the church before she was born.

As a 14-year-old she was allegedly compelled to disconnect herself from her entire family after her mother denounced the church on French television.

Her mother had left the church after the suicide of Ms Paris's father, a self-made millionaire who said Scientology had fleeced him of his fortune.

For the first six years of her time on 'The Freewinds', Ms Paris said she was unable to leave without an escort and was often asked to do hard labour by herself in the ship's engine room.

Former 'Freewinds' executive director Ramana Dienes-Browning has backed up the claims, but the church itself has said Ms Paris's claims were "false".

Ms Paris left the church soon after meeting and marrying fellow Scientologist and former St George Dragons captain Chris Guider.

Here is the transcript from the TV Show:

ALI MOORE, PRESENTER: An Australian resident has told Lateline the Church of Scientology imprisoned her on its cruise ship, The Freewinds.

Valeska Paris says the Church of Scientology's leader, David Miscavige, sent her to the ship when she was 17 to prevent her mother taking her away from Scientology.

Ms Paris says she ended up being on the ship for 12 years and was unable to leave The Freewinds for the first six years without an escort.

She's described the Church's leader as a psychopath and says he should be put on trial.

Steve Cannane has this exclusive report.

STEVE CANNANE, REPORTER: Valeska Paris was born into a Scientology family in Switzerland. At the age of six she moved to Scientology's headquarters in the UK and was placed in its then youth wing, the Cadet Org.

At 14 she joined the Church's elite Sea Organization, signing a contract binding her for a billion years.

It was a commitment that would override her bond with her own family. Valeska Paris says at seventeen the Church told her she could no longer see her mother.

VALESKA PARIS, FORMER SCIENTOLOGIST: I was basically pulled in and told that my mum had attacked the Church and that I needed to disconnect from her because she was suppressive. And ...

STEVE CANNANE: And what does that mean, to disconnect?

VALESKA PARIS: It means no connections at all with her or with anyone that she's connected to.

STEVE CANNANE: Her mother had denounced Scientology on French TV after her ex-husband, Albert Jaquier, had committed suicide. A self-made millionaire, his last days were spent in poverty. In a diary he kept, he blamed the Church of Scientology for fleecing him of his fortune.

Valeska Paris says the Church was so worried her mother would take her away that Scientology's leader David Miscavige intervened, ordering she be taken to the Church's cruise ship, The Freewinds.

VALESKA PARIS: He decided the ship. And I found out two hours before my plane left - I was woken up in the morning and I was sent to the ship for “two weeks”.

STEVE CANNANE: And how long did that end up lasting?

VALESKA PARIS: 12 years.

STEVE CANNANE: Valeska Paris says she was held on The Freewinds against her will.

VALESKA PARIS: I did not want to be there. I made it clear that I didn't want to be there. And that was considered bad ethics, meaning it was considered not right.

STEVE CANNANE: Did you try to escape?

VALESKA PARIS: No, no.

STEVE CANNANE: Could you escape?

VALESKA PARIS: No. They take your passport when you go on the ship, so - and you're in the middle of an island, so it's a bit hard. And I was like - by that time I was 18. So, I didn't really - I'd been in Scientology my whole life. It's not like I knew how to escape and ... .

STEVE CANNANE: The Freewinds is used as a base to deliver Scientology's highest level counselling course, known as Operating Thetan Level Eight.

It cruises around the Caribbean, docking at small islands. The Church says ships have religious significance to Scientologists because its founder L. Ron Hubbard had researched and ministered the first Operating Thetan levels aboard a ship.

But for Valeska Paris, there was no freedom on The Freewinds. She says she was not allowed off the ship for the first six years without an escort and was forced to do hard labour in the engine room.

VALESKA PARIS: It's hot, it's extremely loud, it's smelly, it's not nice. But I was sent down there at first for 48 hours straight on almost no sleep and I had to work by myself. I wasn't allowed to work with anyone else. And I don't know if I went unconscious or if I fell asleep, but I was cleaning some part of an engine and it's extremely loud and I was just out for like four hours, and then this guy came and shook me four hours later and he said that I was unconscious.

STEVE CANNANE: The Church of Scientology in the US refused to be interviewed for this story. Their lawyers sent Lateline a letter threatening legal action over a breach of a confidentiality agreement between the Church and Valeska Paris. Valeska Paris says she signed this agreement under duress.

In a statement, the Church of Scientology said, "She certainly wasn't 'forced' to be there. She was also never forced to perform labour in the engine room. The Freewinds is a wonderful place, as even Valeska said on numerous occasions. Her allegation that she could only leave the ship with an escort is totally false."

RAMANA DIENES-BROWNING, FORMER SCIENTOLOGIST: Their response is a lie. Their response is a cover-up.

STEVE CANNANE: Ramana Dienes-Browning is a former a senior executive on The Freewinds. She was responsible for monitoring staff behaviour and performance on the ship.

RAMANA DIENES-BROWNING: She made it very clear she did not want to be there. You know, she had been sent to the ship so as not to be in contact with one of her parents and that's not what she wanted. She was very, very distressed.

STEVE CANNANE: Ramana Dienes-Browning is now working on a photographic exhibition re-enacting her time in Scientology. She says she too was held against her will on The Freewinds and suffered abuse.

RAMANA DIENES-BROWNING: I have been dealing with that trauma, and as a result I've experienced depression and post-traumatic stress and had to go through a process of dealing with that and healing.

STEVE CANNANE: In a statement, the Church of Scientology said, "We have no facts that would support Ms Dienes-Browning's opposite opinion."

Ramana Dienes-Browning says after five years of trying, she was finally able to leave the Sea Org and The Freewinds.

Valeska Paris left The Freewinds when she was sent to the Rehabilitation Project Force in Sydney. Scientologists describe the RPF as a voluntary religious retreat. Defectors describe it as a punitive re-education camp.

It was here she met former St George rugby league captain Chris Guider. Soon after, they got married and left the Church.

Valeska Paris says she'd like to see the head of the Church of Scientology, the man who she says sent her to The Freewinds, put on trial.

VALESKA PARIS: It's not right for someone to be running the Church and basically take advantage of, you know, a church and hiding behind religion to live like a king and to abuse people around him. That man doesn't like anyone. He's a psychopath.

STEVE CANNANE: The Church of Scientology denies their leader David Miscavige sent Valeska Paris to The Freewinds. When asked if this allegation was put to Mr Miscavige, the Church of Scientology failed to respond.

Steve Cannane, Lateline.

ALI MOORE: And the full statement from the Church of Scientology will be posted on our website shortly.

 

The very strange story of Paulette Cooper.

In discussing how to handle people who questioned the actions of the Church of Scientology,  L. Ron Hubbard wrote, "always attack, never defend".  I don't know anyone who wouldn't question the actions and ethics of this so called "church" after reading the below.  As always, if you have any questions about Scientology, PLEASE CLICK HERE TO GO TO OUR FORUM.

 

Clearwater Testimony

In January 1976, following surreptitious purchases of real estate, Scientologists surfaced in Clearwater, Florida. They promptly slapped its Mayor, Gabe Cazares, with a million-dollar libel suit for questioning their civic virtues; by March, they had attempted to implicate him in a hit-and-run car accident.
After living for some years with Scientology's brand of citizenship, an alarmed Clearwater City Council convened a week of locally-televised hearings, May 5-10, 1982. Attorney Michael Flynn, who had represented Paulette Cooper and other plaintiffs in legal actions against the Church of Scientology, was hired as counsel.
Paulette Cooper was preceded by a roster of ex-Scientologists who detailed the abuse, misery, and crimes they had witnessed while members of the Church. Robert Dardano, once an agent of the Guardian's Office, testified that he had stolen Cooper's files from her psychiatrist's office in 1974.

---

City of Clearwater Commission Hearings
Regarding the Church of Scientology

Transcript Volume 4 (Saturday, 8 May 1982), pages 4-314 to 4-347
MR. FLYNN: Okay. We'll now go forward with Paulette Cooper.
I will have these other documents marked on how to commit burglaries, evaluations of which types of covert operations are successful and unsuccessful, as well as the drills that one goes through, such as Mr. Mayer, Mr. Dardano, Mrs. Peterson, Mr. Walters, and others have described as to how you're trained to do very specific things.







(A copy of Operation Freakout was marked as Exhibit No. 49, as of this date;
Documents on how to commit burglaries, evaluations of covert operations, and drills were marked as Exhibit Nos. 50, 51, and 52, as of this date.) MR. [Charles] LeCHER [Mayor of Clearwater]: Would you like to call your next witness, now?
MR. [Michael] FLYNN [Outside counsel]: Miss Cooper, please.
MR. LeCHER: Miss Cooper, will you be sworn in, please?







PAULETTE COOPER, a witness herein, having first been duly sworn by a Clerk for the City of Clearwater, was examined and testified as follows: MR. LeCHER: Miss Cooper, are you appearing here today and testifying under oath voluntarily?
MS. COOPER: Yes.
MR. LeCHER: Have you been paid by anyone for your testimony, other than the expenses for coming to the City of Clearwater?
MS. COOPER: No.
MR. LeCHER: Do you have a lawsuit against the Church of Scientology?
MS. COOPER: Yes.
MR. LeCHER: Does the Church of Scientology have a lawsuit against you?
MS. COOPER: Yes.
MR. LeCHER: How many, eighteen?
MR. FLYNN: And for the record, the Commissioners may remember that one of the earlier exhibits on the purpose of a lawsuit, which was read, to harass and discourage and to destroy the person.
MR. LeCHER: Has anyone suggested to you that you should state anything but the truth or has anyone suggested that you change your testimony for any reason?
MS. COOPER: No.
MR. LeCHER: How do you defend yourself against eighteen lawsuits?
MS. COOPER: I work day and night to support the lawyers.
MR. LeCHER: I don't know how you could simply afford it.
MS. COOPER: I figured out just recently that it's cost over fifty thousand dollars for legal fees on the suits.
MR. FLYNN: For the record, I haven't received any of that.
MR. LeCHER: Start at the beginning, please.
MS. COOPER: Okay.
I'm a freelance writer; I live in Manhattan. I'm the author of several hundred articles, two of which are about Scientology; I'm also the author of six books, one of which is The Scandal of Scientology. I have been studying Scientology since 1968.
The last couple of years, the Scientologists --
MR. LeCHER: I don't think they can hear you, Miss Cooper, in the back of the room.
MS. COOPER: Okay.
The last couple of years, the Scientologists have been telling the people of Clearwater that they've changed and they've advanced a lot in the last couple of years. I certainly haven't noticed it. As I said, the eighteenth lawsuit was just served on me last week.
I am being sued now repeatedly by individual Scientologists, who, in some cases, I don't even know, suits for supposedly distributing literature at functions I didn't even attend.
Part of the purpose in harassing people with lawsuits is to keep deposing them and preventing you from writing or making a living and making you show up at legal depositions. I've been deposed for nineteen days total since this started, with four more coming up in a couple of weeks.
There has also been some other harassment in the past six months or so: continued calls to me, calls to my family. The Scientologists find out what the person's buttons are, as they put it, and the way to get to them. And they know that a way to get me is to harass my parents. So, they have been under a great deal of harassment, as well as my harassment.
They've put out libelous publications about me; they've sent letters saying that I was soon to be imprisoned. And you saw the Operation Freakout and attempts that have been made to put me in prison. They've sent false reports about me to the Justice Department, the District Attorney's Office, the IRS. As you know, government agencies have to investigate any complaints that they get. So, then, Scientology sends out press releases that I am under investigation by the Attorney General's Office, I am under investigation by the DA, and so on.
They have put detectives on me; they have put spies on me. A few months ago, they put an attempted spy on my mother to try to get information about me from her and to fix me up with the woman's son, so they could get direct to me. They cancelled my plane to -- well, somebody cancelled my plane to Florida about a month ago, and that is the third time that happened to me this year while I was traveling.
I'd like to say that this was a very good year compared to the previous years. And I'd like to discuss a little bit what it was like to fight Scientology alone, starting in 1968, because I was the only one who was speaking out. This is a wonderful thing that there are people speaking out now. But when I started, absolutely nobody else did it. And I was the only person until -- from 1968 until 1973.
In 1973, Nan McLean joined, and the two of us spoke out publicly. And then in 1976, Gabe Cazares joined, and there were the three of us.
When I started in 1968, there was no support from the press, there were no rallies, there were no grand juries looking into Scientology, there were no lawyers like Mike, Mr. Flynn. There was no peer acceptance about what you were doing; there was just no understanding that anything was wrong. It was somewhat like a social group that people were joining and it had a veneer that everything was going along well, although, based on the testimony you've had here, you know, these dirty tricks were going on. But if I said that they were, people thought that I was the one that was making these things up about them.
I'd like to give a little background as to how I got interested in the subject. I never was a Scientologist. My basic interest is as a writer; I like investigative things. In addition, I have a Master's Degree in Psychology, and I studied Comparative Religion at Harvard for a summer.
A friend of mine, in 1968, joined Scientology and he ended up in a mental institution. I'm not saying that one caused the other, but it certainly piqued my curiosity. When he escaped, he came to visit me and he told me that he was Jesus Christ. I then had --
MR. [James] BERFIELD [City Commissioner]: He was who?
MS. COOPER: Jesus Christ. And he'd been a pretty normal person before then.
I then called our mutual friend who had gotten him in and said, "He thinks he's Christ." And my friend said, "Well, he really is." So, I thought, "Well, this bears some investigation."
I went in and took their weekend course. During the time, I wandered away from the group where they were teaching the particular, well, TRs, as they call them, and I came upon a list of people, who -- I don't remember for sure if it was a Fair Game Order, but I think it was, because these people were being declared enemies of mankind. And it was very odd terminology. I remember one woman's name was on there and it declared her enemy of mankind for pushing five men down a flight of stairs. And what -- how could she do that? It just didn't ring like true.
And I decided to contact some of these people when I came home. And I think I took about five names, the five top people, and every one of them had an unlisted number, disconnected phone. Well, this is 1968, and the people it was attracting were twenty-two, twenty-three years old. And just by chance, a whole group of people are not going to have five unlisted numbers unless there's a reason for people to unlist their number.
So, it began to bother me that, you know, was this so-called respectable Church perhaps harassing people? And in that one weekend, I had noted that they had lied about certain things, and I wondered about a church lying to people. And I decided to look in the library and see if I could get any information, any book. And I discovered that all the stories had been clipped out of every single magazine pertaining to Scientology, and I wondered whether this Church was, perhaps, possibly stealing things.
Well, I spent the next couple of years doing research into Scientology. And my first article came out in December of 1969. That's also the month that I received my first death threat. And then a number of mysterious events occurred, both then and during the time within the next year and a half until my book came out. I was followed on several occasions; we found a phone tap on my phone; I was being multiply sued already at that time. A number of -- oh, people kept calling me and trying to take me out, and it seemed like people were trying to get to me.
And this went on for four unpleasant years, including four lawsuits, one of which was for somebody else's book. And when that happened, I got really annoyed. And I became the first person to sue them for harassment, and this was actually shocking to them because Hubbard had written that an enemy of -- that no one would ever sue Scientology, that they had too much to hide and that the people were criminals whoever attacked the Church, and, therefore, we were going to just wither away and die.
So, they then decided -- as we know later and I'm going to discuss this later -- at that time that they were out to get me and they would have to silence me because, after my book came out, I began to receive very, very disturbing calls. And the type of things that you've been hearing for the last few days were the type of things that people would call and tell me what -- mysterious things happening to them, that -- all kinds of very unpleasant things. And that everybody had a sort of paranoid feeling and they were afraid to speak out; people were very afraid to speak out. And yet, when enough people who don't know each other tell you the same thing happening to them, you begin to realize that something is going on.
Well, about October of 1972, they started a big campaign to finally silence me or attempt to stop me. The -- that month I received the second of what was ultimately to be five anonymous, absolutely disgusting smear letters about me. This particular one called me a part-time prostitute, and you can imagine how upsetting it is to open up something like that and read it.
During this same period of time, there were a large number of attempts to get into my apartment, which was on the ground floor of the building that I lived in at the time; it was not well guarded, and I was quite concerned. I received a tremendous number of really disgusting calls, and I remember one day counting eleven calls.
Remember that I work as a freelance writer. That means that if I get upsetting calls and I'm unhappy, it's very hard to just pick up and to write what you were working on. A lot of abusive calls then and over the years, just the sort of -- you pick up the phone and somebody says, "Oh, what are you doing?" And they'd hang up and call back, so you have to take the phone off the hook. And if you're trying to reach somebody, they can't call you back.
Well, I finally decided that I was going to move to a higher-security apartment, even though I really could not afford to do so at the time. I moved on December 15th. On December -- the person who took over the apartment was my second cousin. We bore a physical resemblance, but -- basically, because we're about the same age and she was very petite and we both had short, brown hair at the time.
And a series of mysterious circumstances occurred. The important thing was that she opened up the door to someone who had flowers and rang my bell. And I was no longer living there, although, my name was still on the door. And so, Eddie Walters told you about R2-45, and you've heard the policy. When Joy opened the door to get these flowers, he unwrapped the gun -- he unwrapped the flowers and there was a gun in it. And he took the gun and he put it at Joy's temple and he cocked the gun, and we don't know whether it misfired, whether it was empty and it was a scare technique, what happened, but, somehow, the gun did not go off. And the -- he started choking her, and she was able to break away and she started to scream. And the person ran away.
And so, she called a detective and he said, "It's a very wild attack because there doesn't seem to be any motive for it." There was no attempted rape, there was no attempted robbery, and why should somebody just suddenly try to kill her.
The -- about a week or two later at my new apartment, I received a visit from the FBI. And they informed [me] that the public relations person for Scientology had claimed that she had received a couple of bomb threats and asked -- and had named me as somebody likely to send bomb threats. So, the -- I didn't take the whole thing very seriously, and the FBI asked me if I would mind being fingerprinted. And I said that I would not, and I was fingerprinted.
At the same time my cousin Joy's boyfriend had been very, very upset about what happened. And he said, "Boy, you better let your Scientology spies know that you have moved and where you are because I don't want anything to happen to her again." And I did.
And shortly thereafter, in my -- to my new building, half the tenants, which is approximately three hundred tenants in the building, received a very, very disgusting anonymous smear letter about me, trying to get me kicked out of the apartment, and saying that I had venereal disease, that I would sexually molest little children. The only thing that was true in the letter was my age, which was not something I wanted known anyway. And it was very, very embarrassing. As I was walking through the building -- and I've heard people talking about me in the elevator, and I was just sort of slinking along and I was really -- a month later my parents received an anonymous smear letter about me, accusing me of practicing sexual perversions with their clergyman. These were not very good months.
So -- and I was called for grand jury around this time. At least, I didn't think this was anything very serious and did not bother to retain a lawyer, had very little money because I had used all my money to move to this more expensive, higher-security apartment.
And when I got there, they told me that I was the target of an investigation into the bomb threats. And I went and had to hire a lawyer, and every lawyer wanted -- the least we could get was [a] five thousand-dollar retainer, which, in those years, was like paying ten thousand dollars, you know, today. And to suddenly have to pay this sum of money and find out that you're in serious trouble, and no one would -- the government would not tell my lawyers what the evidence was against me. They wouldn't show me the letters.
Anyway, finally, I went before the grand jury, and I tried to answer every question as truthfully as I could. I never took the Fifth Amendment. And they kept asking me again and again, "Did you ever see this letter? Did you ever touch it? Do you know who might have?" And I said, incidentally, "Yes," that I suspected they might have sent it to themselves because we had some unpleasant confrontations in the press.
And then they asked me to step outside the room. And when I came in, I knew I was in very serious trouble, and they asked me what my social security number was, whether I was on drugs, and did I realize what I had said so far. And again, they asked me the same series of questions.
And then they said, "Well, Miss Cooper, if you've never touched this letter before, could you tell us how your fingerprints got on it?" And I felt like a grand piano had just hit me on the head. I -- I fainted sitting up; the whole room just turned upside down and I didn't know what to do. And then, of course, the lawyers wanted more money.
And on May -- let's see, May 19th, 1973, I was indicted on the three counts of sending bomb threats through the mail; two counts were for two letters. One was for perjury for saying before the grand jury that I hadn't done it and that I thought this public relations person might have done it. On May 29th, ten days later, I was arrested and I was arraigned.
The next eight months were a terrible, terrible nightmare in my life that I still feel sometimes that I suffer from to this day. I had fifteen years in jail over my head and fifteen thousand dollars in fines. I was petrified about going to jail, more so, perhaps, because of my small frame and the fact that I heard that women's federal prisons were rough places.
I risked having my career totally destroyed because -- and I had been successful. And as a freelance writer, what editor is ever going to give an assignment to someone who's been indicted or convicted for sending bomb threats to someone they opposed?
I was very concerned about the indictment and the trial coming out in the newspapers. The public does not know the difference between indict and convict, and they think that if you're on trial for something, you must have done it or where there's smoke, there's fire. I was left with the terrible public humiliation that every person I ever knew in New York would read the details of the trial and these accusations.
I was most concerned about my parents, who had adopted me when I was six years old, and how humiliating it would be for them and their friends to have to explain and to go through a trial like this.
During this period of time, I went through a terrible, terrible depression and a number of my friends, which I can't blame them for, did not stick by me. I was depressing to be with. I had been seeing a man for five years and had intended to marry him, and he left as a result of my depression. I was released on my own recognizance, but I was not allowed to leave the state. And this made it difficult because I had friends in Connecticut and in New Jersey, and it was just all I could do to get away for a weekend. But it was so humiliating to have to go to the court and ask permission to go twenty miles away that I couldn't do it.
I went through a period of very, very acute anxiety. I would go to sleep -- I couldn't fall asleep till about four in the morning and I'd wake up about six with my stomach just in my throat and worrying about what the next day would bring and what was going to happen at the initial hearing. And this went on for eight months, and I was just totally exhausted, sleeping two to four hours a day. I couldn't drag myself around anymore.
All the money I had had gone to lawyers, and I went into debt to try to continue to pay for them. The -- in the end, just the main lawyers cost nineteen thousand dollars.
I was totally unable to write during this period. I was -- the depression was very, very bad and I couldn't concentrate. I attempted to write, but it was really very bad writing. And I stopped eating because I was filled with such nausea and exhaustion. I tried to force myself to have -- I took a sixteen-ounce glass of tomato juice each day and two eggs. About half the time, I would just eat it and then go to [the] bathroom and throw it up; I just couldn't hold food in my stomach.
Oh, a year earlier I had been operated on and a lot of the -- I was physically ill as well during this period. Mentally, I just totally fell apart about half way through. I developed, for the first time in my life, acute agoraphobia; I couldn't leave the house. I think that this really started with this attempted murder that I felt had been intended for me. But then, you have to remember, I didn't want to walk around my building because I was hearing people talking about the lady with VD.
And I had been very concerned when they were going to arrest me that they were going to arrest me in the lobby of my building and humiliate me among my neighbors further. So, this was the genesis of a sudden inability to go out.
And some of my friends were very, very good. They would come over and try to force me to get out and get my mind off what was going on. It worked for a while. Around September/October, it didn't work anymore. One friend came over, alarmed that I had not left the house for a week, and he said, "You've got to walk around the block." And I remember we stepped outside about two or three steps and I just started crying and I said, "Don't make me. I can't do it; I just can't do it." And then I went home and I stayed inside for about two more weeks.
And meanwhile, during this period of time, there was a friend, a new friend, who I met under somewhat mysterious circumstances, but he was very, very helpful. And I obtained an apartment for him in my building, and he did some of the food shopping that I could not get out and do. And his name was Jerry Levin.
And everybody -- the worst period of time was approximately two weeks before the trial. My lawyers informed me that, with a federal case, it was a ninety-five percent chance of conviction. They then gave me the good news that, for the trial, they wanted my parents to be seated in the front row and watch the entire proceedings. And I kept saying, "You can't do that to them. It's going to be awful enough for them to read it in the paper." And they said, "You don't understand, if your parents don't show up, the jury doesn't realize," you know, "that this is what you want. They're just going to" -- they felt that the one circumstance that might get me acquitted was the mutually close relationship with my parents.
On top of that, going through some Scientology material that I had obtained, there was the name of Jerry Levin. Now, I felt horribly betrayed, but at the same time I simply did not want to believe it. I was very naive, and his name was a very common name, especially, in a city like New York.
Meanwhile, we had tried every single move possible to get the trial stopped. And -- but I was in a very, very nervous state and it was impossible for me to be tested correctly. And we went to some doctors who said that they felt the only thing that might work would be if I would go into a state where I didn't know what was going on, meaning sodium pentothal or truth serum, because to do that, you have to be -- you're unconscious; it's like an operation.
So, the problem was we couldn't find a doctor who would give me a sodium pentothal test because, by this time, I weighed eighty-three pounds; I had started about ninety-eight. And it became very, very dangerous to go and put somebody under, as if for an operation, and do that. And I just said I didn't care if the operation -- not the operation, but if the sodium pentothal killed me because, if I had to stand trial for what I didn't do and humiliate everyone and go through this humiliation, that I would just as soon be dead anyway.
And we finally did find a doctor two weeks before trial who gave me a sodium pentothal test. I was unconscious for seven hours. I don't know what I said during that. I do know that, when I came to, my mother was standing there and I said, "What happened? What did I say?" And she just said, "It's okay. It's all over. There won't be a trial."
The government wanted to save face because they don't like to admit that they've made a mistake. So, they said that they wouldn't actually -- they would postpone the trial, but they would not actually drop the charges at that time. They also ordered me to see a psychiatrist which I thought was very humiliating.
The government did not drop the charges and, for two years after all this, I still had to worry on a daily basis whether one day there was going to be a trial and all of these things that I was afraid of, the prison and so on, was going to happen.
The next year was 1974, and there were a number of new lawsuits against me. Oh, continued harassments, including harassments of my family and their clergyman, new spies. By the summer, which was about seven months after the worst period of this whole thing, I remember that one of my friends said that that was the first time he had seen me smile in a year and a half.
And so, I decided, in fact, that I was going to try to get back this gentleman that I was interested in. And I threw a birthday party to have an excuse to invite him to something and I sent an invitation, and he then wrote me the most incredible letter back. And what I found out was that there was then a filthy anonymous smear letter about me, this one sent to him and his bosses, and he would never talk to me again; and he never has.
In 1975, the charges against me were finally dropped. But during this period, they started a new type of harassment. And then I began receiving things in the mail, such as copies of -- I had kept a diary from when I was seventeen to about twenty, and there was my diary suddenly coming back to me, copies of letters that I had sent out -- or my carbon copy of it -- and a psychiatrist's report that Mr. Dardano explained that he stole.
In 1976, the charges were -- no, excuse me. In late '75, the charges were finally dropped. At that point some very bizarre things happened that, it wasn't until later, I would learn were part of another attempt to put me in jail. But -- for example, people were -- somebody was calling a number of my close friends, imitating my voice to a degree that was good enough that some people stopped talking to me, others called and yelled at me: why should I have called and been so rude and so on. And I said, "I didn't call." And then I went to a writers' meeting and someone said, "Gee, how was Washington?" I said, "I haven't been to Washington in two years." They said, "You called from Washington." I didn't understand at the time why these things were being done.
Also, at a -- I was with a group of writers and someone showed me a joke, and I realized afterwards that it appeared to be an attempt to get my fingerprints again. And I became very, very upset because, after all, I had a, quote, record, end quote. And I was very concerned about the possibility of more bomb threats.
In -- there were many, many more things that were done to me over the years, but this is -- I'm trying to summarize a little bit.
In December of 1976, I became very, very tired of it all. By that time there were nine lawsuits against me. Right before I went to court, all the stuff was remailed to me that was mailed in the past, sort of a subtle blackmail: "This is what's going to happen if you don't settle." Scientology wanted me to settle quite badly.
Also, they convinced me at that time that they [had] changed and that they really were a very nice organization, and that, by my continued statements and stance against them and my book, I was preventing them from doing the good deeds that they wanted to do or that they were doing by bringing up the bad things all the time. And in December of '76, I agreed, in a sense, that -- it's easier to just say that I agreed, in a sense, not to bad mouth them and they agreed not to bad mouth me.
While they were telling me that they had changed, unbeknownst to me, there was a man named Michael Meisner -- and he had been a top GO operative -- and they were holding him under gag and handcuff. And this man knew that I had been criminally framed and he knew about a lot of things that had been going on.
In the summer of 1977, the FBI raided the three Scientology organizations. On October 12th, 1977, the FBI called me. Now, remember, this was a five-year period that I had never been able to prove my innocence; the government considered me a criminal; I had a, quote, record, end quote. And the FBI called out of the blue and said, "We have just received evidence that you were innocent of this -- those original charges." And I hung up the phone and cried and I, in fact, tried to reach that person that was no longer talking to me, but he had since remarried.
I worked with the FBI for the next couple of years. I did learn before -- in the investigation that was going on that the murder attempt on Joy was seemingly intended for me by Scientology. I learned that they had broken -- Scientology had broken into my New York lawyer's office and -- this was one of many lawyers to break into, but that was the first one. And I learned, which was, to me, the most important thing, that they had framed me in 1972.
And -- let me skip ahead a little bit to some of the stuff that -- there were more lawsuits.
Anyway, at the end of 1979, I finally saw the documents that had been seized. There were twenty-three thousand documents. And there were documents -- I'm sorry, twenty-three thousand that were available to the public. And there were two documents that finally made it very clear that I had been criminally framed, and it was very important to me that, at last, I was publicly able to proclaim my innocence and not worry about the -- what anybody would say, and that I no longer -- I always felt that I had to hide the fact that I had been arrested. And if I would meet someone and if they had any political ambitions, I wouldn't tell him why, but I would quickly stop seeing him for his sake. So, it was something that I was hiding, and it was affecting my live in various ways.
We found one document that, apparently, indicated that they were considering the use of the Mafia on me, but that they decided instead to criminally frame me, so that Scientology would not look bad. We found a document that -- we found a number of documents that proved that this fellow who had been helping me, I thought, during the period that I was, oh, having such a bad time -- he was calling a diary into Scientology as to what I was doing, how close I was to suicide, and, you know, cheering me on, like, you know: "She can't sleep again, that she's talking suicide. Wouldn't this be great for Scientology?" It's very strange from reading the diary of somebody that you think is a friend and is wishing you dead and working in your behalf towards that direction.
Incidentally, this particular fellow, whose name was Jerry Levin -- they changed his name to Don Alberto, and he became one of the biggest dirty tricks operatives down in Clearwater. He also was the person that was sent to Washington and planted the bug in the IRS.
We saw a document called Operation Freakout, which Mr. Flynn started to show you before. Remember, I mentioned these very bizarre phone calls, people posing as me? We think that they were trying to test my voice because, part of Operation Freakout -- Operation Freakout consisted of six different ways to try to get me jailed again, since the charges had been dropped. One of the ways was to call in bomb threats in a voice that would sound like mine; another was to write bomb threats very similar to the original ones but pasted on Writers' Digest stationery, so that they would come to the conclusion that -- so that the FBI would come to the conclusion that this must have been done by a writer.
Operation Freakout consisted of plans to have somebody pose as me -- find out what I was wearing, have someone dress like me, look like me, and they would crack up publicly and they would try to get me arrested for that person threatening to bomb various places.
The other document that I saw was that a number of these lawsuits against me were being maliciously created. For example, they were bringing my book, The Scandal of Scientology, into countries where it had not even been published and they were saying -- you know, so -- "brought the book in so we can sue."
The reason for those terrible calls that I had mentioned was that they had put my name up on walls throughout Manhattan and -- with my phone number, so that people would give me these calls.
Operation Owl was in there. I don't know if I mentioned that Operation Freakout originated in Clearwater, even though the basis of the attack was against a New York resident, namely, me.
Mr. Flynn showed you Operation Owl, which also originated in Clearwater.
Oh, a copy of my diary -- the one that had been mailed to me -- was found in a file marked "National Council of Churches." They had hidden a lot of their -- the stuff that they shouldn't have had. And there were also things that I didn't even know that they had gotten. For example, my mother once complained to me that she couldn't figure out why for the last few years my father kept being audited again and again, and nothing ever turned up; he's an excrutiatingly honest person. And there was an order to give an anonymous tip to the IRS that my father was evading taxes, and I don't know if that was the cause of it. But I'm saying that it was this type of thing.
I also learned from the documents that they were suing me for things that were true. For example, they repeatedly sued me for saying that Charles Manson was a Scientologist, and there were fifty to a hundred documents showing how they were trying to hide the fact that Charles Manson had studied Scientology.
There were surveillance reports. I think I had mentioned that I'd been followed at various times and was pretty sure of it. It's kind of spooky sitting there and reading, you know, "She turned up Aken Street, walked for five minutes there, stopped in the candy store."
And there were reports that my friends were being harassed. There was a notation to cause trouble with this gentleman that I mentioned. There were spies' reports and taped transcripts of telephone conversations that I had had with people.
The -- I think I spoke to 60 Minutes when I was down here in Clearwater last, and I said then that I had been saying that these types of things had been going on and people kept saying, "Well, what is she talking about? This is a church." And it was incredible vindication to look at these documents and see that everything I had said about Scientology since 1968 was true, and that they had turned out to be worse than anything I had said or even imagined.
Now, Scientology, at that time, had said that they had changed. And I know because Gabe -- Mayor Cazares mailed me the same things from the Clearwater Sun, and I read what they told you.
While they were saying that, they had learned where I was in Washington, D.C., at the Washington Hilton, and planted a bug by my bed there and, also, a bug on the telephone, during this period of time while they were making these statements in Clearwater about how they had changed.
And I do not believe that they have changed, and that -- this is one of the reasons, or the main reason, why I wanted to come here and warn you, because I have been studying this for many years. And I have heard them say that they have changed and, gee, they don't -- they may be issuing that kind of statement after this is over; "Well, you know, there were some things that were said, but, you know, we don't do that anymore" kind of thing.
And I've heard before -- even before I started researching Scientology -- they were saying this. For example, in 1965, there was something called the Australian Inquiry, a Commission to look into Scientology. Anyway, after studying Scientology, the Commission came to the conclusion that Scientology -- quote: "Scientology is evil, its techniques evil. Its practice is a serious threat medically, morally, and socially. Its adherence often establishes it with the mentally ill." And at that time Scientology issued a statement that, of course, they had changed.

[The actual quote in the Report reads:

"Scientology is evil; its techniques evil; its practice a serious threat to the community, medically, morally and socially; and its adherents sadly deluded and often mentally ill." -- "Report of the Board of Inquiry Into Scientology", Victoria, Australia (1965); p.1]

In 1968, I believe, with the Foster Report, when the English held an inquiry to look into Scientology, and Scientology issued a statement that Fair Game had been cancelled, that the Disconnect Policy had been cancelled, and that everything had changed.
In 1975, they had World Prayer Day, and the press all believed at that time that they had changed. In December of 1976, when I settled with them, I believed they had changed. In 1977, when the FBI raided them, they said that they had changed. In '79, when statements came out about what was in the documents, and in 1980, again, they were telling people that they had changed.
And my final point is that I believe that they haven't changed. I believe that their basic policy, ever since the policy was first written, has been the Fair Game Policy. The policy is to trick people; the policy is to sue people; the policy is to lie to people and to destroy them. And I certainly know from a personal standpoint.
And I've only briefly told you some of the things that they've done to me, so that you're not deceived by their true nature. I've been studying them for fourteen years and, unfortunately, I've been a victim of this cult for fourteen years. And I believe that Scientology has never changed, will never change, and will keep issuing statements to people saying that they've changed.
MR. LeCHER: Thank you for your --
MR. FLYNN: If I could just make one point of information for the Commission that I believe is significant: The most relevant portion of Miss Cooper's testimony is the fact that for years she suffered from harassment and framing, which was -- has been proved by some of the documents already in evidence, to which she's testified, and the documents that we put in evidence before this Commission.
The final area for this Commission to examine is that of deception on all of the items that I mentioned earlier: deception of confidential auditing information, Mr. Hubbard's background, the goals, policies, purposes, and practices of the organization to the thousands of people that are coming here to Clearwater and paying millions of dollars.
Miss Cooper's evidence vividly describes the policy of the Church to utilize the Fair Game Policy, of which most Church members who are paying millions of dollars do not know. And that policy has been described, from 1968, in her testimony right up to the present time.
And the Commission will be able to derive whatever inferences are appropriate from her testimony with regard to the practice and deception regarding the goals and purposes and operations of the Church of Scientology in this city.
MR. LeCHER: I'd like to say: Thank you for your story and thank you for the evidence that relates specifically to Clearwater.
I have at various times talked to members of the Church of Scientology who have told me that they've changed, too, as recently as Heber Jentzsch a few months ago, who said that they had changed.
And I thank you for telling us your story. I don't -- every story today seems to get more incredible as the people come on.
And I don't know how you could survive what you have survived, and I think that you must be one hell of a woman.
I -- I really have no questions. I don't know how you even -- you can trust anybody anymore: a man that you might meet that he is one of them and trying to get you again. That must prey on your mind. And what with -- even with just day-to-day contact with business associates and females and family members.
So, I don't want to put you through any more of your story. You've relived it, an aberration for these many years.
And I will then refer to my colleagues, and I hope that they will also be sensitive to that fact and also be brief.
Who do I start with?
MR. [James] BERFIELD [City Commissioner]: I have -- I have just one question, and it's not so related to what happened to you there. But you said you've spent fifteen years in studying Scientology?
MS. COOPER: Well, I started researching in 1968; it's fourteen years.
MR. BERFIELD: In this study --
MS. COOPER: Yeah.
MR. BERFIELD: -- without any reference to religion --
MS. COOPER: Mm-mm.
MR. BERFIELD: -- and going back, have you found out where they picked up these deceptive ideas from or whose -- were they L. Ron Hubbard's or did he get them from somebody else or what?
MS. COOPER: Well, when I researched the book, I went through a tremendous number of early policy letters by Hubbard, things that he wrote about in the early 1950's, even when it was Dianetics. And the fraud was just started way back; Hubbard excelled in it. He was constantly lying to his people. You find that, you know, that one thing just totally negated another. And I think the deception and the lies all stem from Mr. Hubbard.
MR. BERFIELD: Thank you.
MR. LeCHER [Mayor]: Okay.
Does anyone have any questions?
Thank you very much.