From KIM@uctlib.uct.ac.za Wed Aug 23 11:30:08 EDT 1995 Article: 101834 of alt.religion.scientology Path: casaba.srv.cs.cmu.edu!das-news2.harvard.edu!oitnews.harvard.edu!news.dfci.harvard.edu!camelot.ccs.neu.edu!chaos.dac.neu.edu!news3.near.net!noc.near.net!bloom-beacon.mit.edu!spool.mu.edu!usenet.eel.ufl.edu!gatech!news.sprintlink.net!tank.news.pipex.net!pipex!dispatch.news.demon.net!demon!mail2news.demon.co.uk!uctmail2.uct.ac.za From: Kim Baker Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology Subject: URGENT PRESS RELEASE - FACTNET Date: Wed, 23 Aug 1995 06:11:14 GMT Lines: 496 Message-ID: X-NNTP-Posting-Host: uctmail2.uct.ac.za X-Broken-Date: Wed, 23 Aug 1995 08:11:21 SAST-2 Priority: normal X-mailer: Pegasus Mail v3.22 AS a recently appointed member of the board of Directors of FACTNET, I am releasing this document for all to see - this was to be a press release by FACTNet before the raid on Bob and Larry. ------- Forwarded Message Follows ------- =========================================================================== August 20, 1995 CoS raid on FACTNet & Arnie Lerma re the Fishman/Geertz docs First, Dennis Erlich was raided by Scientology officials. Then, last February, Scientology tricked the Finnish police into taking down Julf Helsingus's anon.penet.fi server in order to obtain the identity of a critic. On August 12th, Arnie Lerma was raided. Arnie is a director of FACTNet, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit electronic library and historic preservational archive. The raid occurred after Lerma posted a public court record from the FACTNet archives to the Internet. Scientology has threatened other Internet providers with destructive nuisance suits. Some have yielded and dropped newsgroups or clients that Scientology finds "controversial." The Internet and the First Amendment are under a devastating attack. FACTNet is fighting back. In this second public statement since the raid, we identify critical new information and concerns for debate. FACTNet's Second Statement: 1) FACTNet alleges that Scientology's attorneys and executives deliberately swore out false and misleading affidavits and court motions against FACTNet's director Arnie Lerma to deceive a judge who was unfamiliar with Scientology's criminal history. Scientology's purpose was to trick the judge into granting an illegal search warrant and seizure order for Arnie Lerma's computer and records. In those court documents, Scientology's attorneys and executives make several false and misleading claims: a) That L. Ron Hubbard, Scientology's founder, was the sole author of the materials b) That the materials were legally copyrighted and trademarked. c) That those copyrights and trademarks were legally transferred from Hubbard through several intermediary corporations to Religious Technology Corporation (RTC), the umbrella organization filing the complaint for Scientology. 2) FACTNet did not start this legal action, but in defending itself FACTNet has been provided with a powerful opportunity to fulfill its purpose as an educational and dialog promoting public library and archive. FACTNet has begun assembling evidence for this case that will show: a) Hubbard was not the sole author of these materials as claimed in his copyright applications. b) Substantial portions of the Fishman-Geertz documents were plagiarized by Hubbard from the secret initiation rites of other Satanic, black magic and occult secret societies. c) Hubbard created the falsely copyrighted works from the assets of a nonprofit corporation, creating an inurement to himself personally. (Hubbard used the staff and resources of Scientology to help "create" these inured personal assets.) d) The transfers of the fraudulently filed copyright and trademarks from Hubbard to other intermediary corporations and finally to RTC are also fraught with transfer fraud and misrepresentation. e) Scientology has used copyright and trademark laws and confidentiality agreements for purposes never intended by the law, namely, to coerce silence or hide illegal actions or actions that threaten the safety of individuals or the general public. (There are many reports of former and current Scientology members committing suicide, attempting suicide or becoming psychotic or neurotic while being initiated with these rituals contained in the Fishman-Geertz documents.) 3) In those false and misleading court documents used to obtain the search warrent and seizure order, Scientology's attorneys and executives conceal vital information from the court: a) The Fishman Geertz documents which Arnie Lerma posted to the net were public court records legally obtainable from the LA Superior court clerk in the Scientology v. Uwe Geertz and Steve Fishman case. b) The Fishman Geertz documents which Arnie posted to the net were previously obtainable legally as part of the public court record from the LA Superior court case, Wollersheim v. Church of Scientology. c) The substance of what Arnie posted to the Internet was first publically published in 1971 by Robert Kaufman, and has been since been publically republished numerous times, all over the world by many other individuals. d) Hubbard himself planned to widely publish a screenplay based on the substance of the Fishman-Geertz documents. e) In the 50's or 60's, a low budget science fiction film was made containing much of the substance of the theme of OT3 (the largest part of the Fishman-Geertz documents). 4) FACTNet alleges that Scientology's attorneys and executives deliberately swore out false and misleading affidavits and court motions against FACTNet's director Arnie Lerma in bad faith and with the dirtiest of hands. a) The real and covert purpose of Scientology's lawsuit is to put another "head on a pike," to intimidate other critics into silence under threat of expensive, malicious and drawn out frivolous court actions, as well as to gain access to documents pertaining to FACTNet that Arnie had in his possession as a legitimate Board member of FACTNet. b) Scientology's notorious 40 year history of "dirty tricks" tactics in and out of the courts is replete with evidence on Scientology's real policies and purposes in attacking critics. 5) Scientology is a wolf in sheep's clothing. It is not a church in the sense that most people think of a church. Scientology has its origins in the secret societies of Satanism, black magic, occultism, and Nazi philosophy and tactics. The IRS held off for almost 20 years before giving Scientology the same religious status that it routinely gives to other Satanic and neo-Nazi "churches." Scientology continues to abuse the religious sanctuary, privileges and immunities our Constitution affords legitimate charitable and humanitarian religions. If a government official has not been carefully watching the computer and records seized from Lerma's home 24 hours a day, they will have to be considered contaminated evidence. This is because FBI documents seized from Scientology's headquarters show Scientology has secret policies to plant false records on critics or alter a critic's records. (Some of these documents are contained a FACTNet archive file called APP#.txt?) MORE ABOUT THE CONTENTS AND PURPOSES OF THE Fishman-Geertz DOCUMENTS No one knows how many copies of these documents have been downloaded from sites all over the net. It is possible that more that 100,000 netizens may have read them already. I, Lawrence Wollersheim, was personally processed through most of the materials described in the Fishmen-Geertz documents. I will attempt to explain how Scientology uses these documents, the context in which they are delivered, and their purpose. 1) The Fishman-Geertz documents contain some of the highest secret initiations of Scientology. To see these materials, individuals must sign themselves into years of indentured servitude to the organization or pay $60-100,000 or more. Whether staff or public, they must be security checked and sign a series of confidentiality agreements. (FACTNet believes these confidentiality agreements are illegal because they are usually signed with the individual in a trance state and because the individual is not told about the occult and hypnotic mind control nature of these materials. No one is allowed to learn about the large number of people who have been seriously harmed while or shortly after being processed on these materials.) 2) To increase the individual's suggestibility, before the individual gets to the level to be able to view these materials, Scientology runs them through hundreds, sometimes thousands, of hours of repetitive hypnotic and thought reform processes. 3) The secret hypnotic exercises up to OT3 described in the Fishman-Geertz document deepen the hypnotic trance to induce the final suggestibility boost in preparation for the OT3 shock. On OT3 the individual is told, while in the suggestibility of hypnotic trance, that they really are not one individual, but they are a composite of hundreds, possibly thousands, or tens of thousands of individual beings trapped in one body as the result of a galactic war 76 million years ago. (In Scientology these other individual beings are called body thetans or BT's.) The individuals receiving these techniques are told, while in hypnotic trance, that these beings are fighting for control of their bodies and identities. They are told that these beings can make them act irrationally or make them terminally ill, and that ONLY Scientology has the technology to safely remove these being out of their bodies. If anything goes wrong they only have Scientology to turn to. On these secret levels the member spends sometimes hundreds of hours talking to the beings they have been hypnotized into believing exist. They locate these beings on their various body parts and try to get them out of their body through various initiation processes. In the Fishman-Geertz documents and ancilliary documents the member is told that this is a prison planet and he or she is really an alien. Because he is in Scientology now, he is one of the good alien leaders or geniuses or artists. It is up to those who have "woke up to who they really are" to help Scientology retake the planet earth (Clear the planet) and re-conquer the Galaxy. They are also told they are in a very dangerous area that broke Hubbard's back when he was trying to find an escape from it, and that Hubbard found the only "route out". On OT2 the individual "processes out" religion as a control aberration of the "bad guy" alien race. Later, on OT 3, they process out many traditional religious symbols and concepts. 4) To make up your own mind about Scientology's secret hypnotic initiations, you should have a little context on Hubbard and brainwashing. Hubbard wrote a manual called the "Brainwashing manual" where he describes how to break people and enslave every aspect of their lives. In this manual he demonstrates a superior knowledge of Russian, Korean and Chinese brainwashing techniques. Although there are seven main techniques to effective brainwashing, this is not the place to explain all seven. The most powerful of the seven bears repeating in light of the OT3 materials: "Frequent and intense attempts cause a person to reevaluate the most central aspects of their experience of self and prior conduct in negative ways. Efforts are designed to destabalize and undermine the subject's basic consciousness, reality awareness, world view, emotional control, and defense mechanisms as well as get them to reinterpret their life's history and adopt a new version of causality." In order to more effectively dominate and control the individual by attacking the individual's core concepts of self, Hubbard tricks the individual in trance into believing he is not who he always thought he was. To fragment the individual's personal integrity and self control Hubbard induces a hypnotic state of multiple personality or schizophrenia. It's no wonder people would go psychotic if tricked into believing this story when their suggestibility is at its highest and their defenses at the lowest. Hubbard was most ingenious in applying the most important technique of brainwashing. He not only attacked the individuals core sense of self by inducing a personality schizophrenia, but followed it up by turning the individuals whole world view and understanding of causality upside down with the alien story while the individual was in deep trance. If there is a hell this could be it. 6) By distributing the Fishman-Geertz document for public dialog, Arnie Lerma acted in accordance with the highest purposes of FACTNet. FACTNet has received and researched almost 300 reports of individuals who committed suicide, attempted suicide, or became psychotic or neurotic while receiving Scientology processes. The materials of the Fishman-Geertz document that Arnie Lerma distributed deal particularly with the areas that are MOST OFTEN associated with these alarming reports and the worst of thought reform. Arnie Lerma also acted to inform unknowing third parties of possible grave personal danger to their safety and well being regarding these materials, a danger even Scientology secretly acknowledges. The seriousness of this cannot be overstated. In the courts, thought reform programs are commonly called coercive persuasion. In United States v. Lee 455 U.S. 252, 257-258 (1982), the California Supreme Court found that "when a person is subjected to coercive persuasion without his knowledge or consent... [he may] develop serious and sometimes irreversible physical and psychiatric disorders, up to and including schizophrenia, self-mutilation, and suicide." 7) For 11 years, from approximately 1969-1980, I (Lawrence Wollersheim, Executive Director of FACTNet) was a member of Scientology and held numerous Sea Organization staff administrative positions. I am personally familiar with most of Scientology's processes by having received them. I was processed to Scientology's highest secret initiatory levels. I have also been through the Sea Organization's "Rehabilitation Project Force" (RPF) program, a debilitating concentration/work camp for members who are not following orders. During my years in Scientology I personally witnessed many individuals go psychotic on the secret initiations described in the Fishman-Geertz documents. From my experiences, I estimate as many as 70% of the people going through these levels experience periods of psychosis. >From my having personally experienced these processes and my understanding of the techniques of thought reform, I believe the real purpose of these processes is to establish the deepest level of total unchallenged control over the mind, life and assets of the individual receiving the secret initiation. I fear that Scientology has made a significant advance in thought reform techniques which easily explains why so many people could go psychotic, or attempt or commit suicide on Scientology's secret levels. I believe that these processes when used on individuals in Scientology are in essence thought reform experimentation with human guinea pigs who have no idea what is really being done to them. WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP FACTNET'S DIRECTOR ARNIE LERMA This issue concerns EVERY individual who has a love of human freedom and human rights. In its latest raid and lawsuit against Arnie Lerma, Scientology has initiated a radical new tactic to intimidate and silence their critics. This is the most serious new step in suppressing public debate and freedom of speech ever entered into by Scientology on the Internet. Scientology has gone from attacking individuals who privately possess information critical of it to attacking the very vehicles set up by society to collect and preserve information: our public libraries and public archives. This is a major acceleration of Scientology's coercive and abusive tactics -- not just against FACTNet -- but against the vital social mechanisms to preserve and distribute information for public debate, public education, and public safety. This acceleration of Scientology's abusive tactics must be met with the strongest of public condemnation and immediate action to defend public libraries and archives and the Internet from this new form of "book burning." Freedom of information concerns EACH and EVERY one of us. I say it is time we haul out a 2"x4" and smack the CoS with the message, "HANDS OFF THE INTERNET AND HANDS OFF FACTNET! THE INTERNET IS FOR THE PEOPLE! " We must demonstrate the true power of the Internet. We must ACT NOW. For if we don't, our fundamental rights to freedom of expression and thought may be permanently undermined. To help FACTNet and Arnie Lerma we ask you to begin the biggest public dialog in the history of the Internet on Scientology's free speech crushing tactics and the contents and dangers of the Fishman-Geertz documents. Let us also get Scientology's celebrity big donors like Tom Cruise, Kirstey Alley, John Trovolta, MiMi Rogers, and Sonny Bono and the other Hollywood promoters of Scientology involved in the debate. Let us ask them and their fan clubs on the net how they can finance Scientology to attack free speech? How can they recruit the young into a net-and-library bashing organization? Let us ask these celebrity Scientology promoters whether they feel they should be held personally responsible, legally and financially, for using their reputation to bring people into Scientology who are later harmed by these secret initiations. We ask you to help us redistribute this posting so that the talk of millions of Internet users will be "What do you think about the Scientology Internet raids and what do you think about the contents of the Fishman-Geertz documents?" This ethical use of the dialog power of the Net will begin to slow the Scientology intimidation machine, but it will still take more. FACTNet needs other former and current Scientology members that have been scared into silence to tell your stories and get them to FACTNet for our defense in this case. FACTNet needs the estimated 16,000 anti Scientology readers of alt.religion.scientology to bring the public debate over the issues to Scientology's current members and the families of current members, but still more is needed. FACTNet needs your tax deductible donations. We are fighting an organisation that has billions of dollars at its disposal, and that has silenced many who have spoken out previously. Donate $5, $10 -- whatever you can afford -- to FACTNet by mail. Or point your Web browser to [unique http address] or email [unique email address] for instructions on how to contribute. If you have a credit card handy, FACTNet is set up to receive your tax-deductible donation quickly and SECURELY. You've watched O.J. You know we need HEAPS of money to get "justice" in our system today. Your contribution will go to our defense funds and to giving FACTNet's unique and essential 100,000-page archive of cult and thought reform information a permanent home on the Internet. If you can spare $25, FACTNet will e-mail you a FBI mini collection of key documents seized from CoS headquarters -- that outline brutal CoS techniques for attacking critics, even the U.S. Government: lying, stealing, breaking and entering, and more. You've never read anything like these secret internal documents. If you can afford to contribute $100, we will place you on FACTNet's Early Warning System and notify you personally by e-mail of emerging threats to your First Amendment freedoms. Even if you have never had anything to do with Scientology, or never heard about them before, THIS IS YOUR FIGHT! Do not think "it won't happen to me", or, "it's only hurting those who are gullible". It could happen to your children, your brother or sister, your cousin, your friend. FACTNet has taken on the fight against co-ercive tactics for the people. We need the people to stand united. The issue isn't just CoS. And it's bigger than cults. The issue is FREEDOM. Maybe you liked the movie, _The Net,_ maybe not. But when Sandra Bullock yells, "They did it to me, they'll do it to you" .... I CHEERED! FACTNet has proof that many cults are watching Co$'s "wins," sharing tactics and lawyers with Co$, and preparing for their own assaults on our liberty. How long until other posters to Usenet groups are hauled into court? How long until even major services like America Online, Prodigy, and Microsoft Network are censored by the Scientology litigation and intimidation machine? Remember, alone, we're easy pickings. Together, we're an amazing force. We are the people, and history shows that it is the will of the people, united, that triumphs. The more you feed the public dialog and contribute, the more we can fight back effectively against Co$. But even one action or just $5 can accomplish a tremendous amount -- multiplied by the efforts and contributions of tens of thousands of your fellow Netizens. NO ONE can stand alone in this fight. We WILL win with your help. We won in the underlying Scientology v. Ewe Geertz case. (In this case, Scientology first demanded millions in damages, then as more information came out, they said: "give us a dollar and we will drop the case". Then, as even more came out about them, they dropped the case with prejudice against them and their tail between their legs. Now, Geertz and Fishman have filed a malicious prosecution case AGAINST Scientology for its bad faith malicious litigation.) FACTNet will be true to its acronym (Fight Against Coercive Tactics Network). We will not just defend. We will use your donations to also seek new charges against Scientology for damages for its bad faith and dirty handed attack on our nonprofit library and archive. So please, please, mail us a donation to help us fight back or point your browser to [unique web address] or email [unique email address] and find out more about how you can help win this battle safely. IMHO, Lawrence Wollersheim Executive Director For the Board of Directors of FACTNet, Inc. P.S. FACTNet's Director Arnie Lerma goes before the court NEXT WEEK -- so please act quickly. Don't let Helena Korbin and Scientology's high-powered lawyers roll all over our First Amendment rights -- and destroy the Internet in the process. Point your browser to [unique web address] or email [unique email address] RIGHT NOW before you turn back to your busy day. FACTNet 601 16th St. C-217, Golden CO. 80401, USA Voice 1-303-473-0111 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The FACTNet electronic lending library and archive can be found on our BBS, 1-303-530-1942. Log on and follow the instructions on the screen. Selected information can also be found at the following sites. Internet FTP Sites: ftp.rmii.com (The directory pub2/factnet contains a BIG zipped file that mirrors the BBS's state last June.) ftp: marvel.loc.gov ftp.primenet.com/users/c/cultxpt ftp.rahul.net/pub/homer FTP.PCNET.COM/users/brianw RTFM.MIT.EDU/pub/usenet/alt.answers/scientology/users America Online: Keyword Religion; select 'other religions'; goto other religions file area, scroll back to Oct 25, 94 and you will find many affidavits. Also, select ''Philosphy" then "philosophy file area" and scroll back to March 25, for affidavits from Fishman and Scarff. OTHER WWW WEB SITES: (Information may still be on most of these sites. Some may have been removed ) http://www.cybercom.net/~rnewman/home.html http://www.demon.co.uk/castlsys/clambust.html http://www.xs4all.nl/~fonss/ http://www.cybercom.net/~rnewman/scientology/home.html http://amazing.cinenet.net/scientology.html http://wheel.dcn.davis.ca.us:80/~btcarrol/home/Bobshome.html (the Scientology stuff is in his dictionary thing) http://www.eff.org/pub/EFF/Legal/Cases/CoS_v_the_Net/ http://www.theta.com/goodman/ http://www.sky.net/~sloth/sci/sci_index.html http://www.snafu.de/~tilman http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Fishman/ k.b.