August 8, 1998 - Wulfen

Yes, the Toronto branch of the ARSCC (WDNE) picketed the "Church" of Scientology of Toronto yet again. The complement was Gregg Hagglund, Artemis, Android Cat, Deep Wog, and myself, Wulfen. We disseminated hundreds of flyers.. I'll leave the exact count to the people who counted. ;-) As well, I finally got rid of that box of flyers that I've been carrying around since the APA counterpicket. Now, we can get some new, improved flyers, and gain greater dissemination for the next picket; all the locals have our Xenu/Crimes flyer by now.

The weather was nothing short of horrible. It was so humid that we had trouble sweating, and it was way too hot in the sun. Fortunately, we only get the sun in the morning, in the afternoon the bulk of the Org lets us picket in the blessed shadow.

I was quiet this picket.. Just concentrating on staying alive in the sun. Deep Wog was louder than I was most of the time. I did figure a new slogan to use for the odd time when Gregg Hagglund (who can declaim practically without end) took a break: ".. As written by the lying, bigamous, drug using fraud artist L. Ron Hubbard!" (About the OT3 story.) I also used that old standby, "Read about the space alien theology behind Scientology!"

The Org rented another police officer. She stayed in the shadow of the Org all day.. Smart of her, it kept her relatively cool. Again, her purpose in life was to keep order among the Scientologists. Only one incident that I heard of this time: There was a Scientologist standing in the middle of the sidewalk handing out flyers, and the officer, using another body router as an intermediary, told that person to stand to one side and not block sidewalk traffic. I do so love it when Scientology pays to have someone ride herd on them. :-)

Lunch, when it came, was not a moment too soon. We headed to the Artful Dodger, and were served very promptly. Here, the first nice thing at lunch happened: A woman who had chatted to a few of us outside the Org (not me) bought us our drinks. That was exceptionally nice of her. Apparently a relative of hers was chewed up and spat out by the cult, and she was grateful that someone was standing up to them.

The second nice thing made my day. It also raised me on the tone scale.. I was 1.9 (hostility, to Scientology naturally), and now I'm 8.0 (exhilaration!). While we were sitting there, a reliable source gave us a message: Al Buttnor (DSA for the Org) had called him, and was asking us what it would take to get us to stop picketing. We mentioned things like honesty, reform, not breaking the law.. Then, it turned out, Buttnor was offering us $15,000 ($10,000 USD) to stop picketing.

Well.. Once we'd stopped laughing, the answer was obviously NO! Buttnor had apparently also mentioned that he would meet with us.. To discuss our concerns? Sure.. In a neutral room with witnesses and tape recorders. The guy then wanted to know what he should say to Buttnor.. I said, "Sod off! is good." Other unhelpful suggestions were made, such as asking him about his lawsuit in Edmonton. :-> Then, it turned out that Buttnor's advice to us was that it would be better to take the money...

Really now.. Did Buttnor think we'd fall for it? He has to be the single stupidest, most downstat Scientologist in the world if he thought that we could be bought. With the advice he gave, which seemed to me like intimidation, it was even more laughable. This guy couldn't intimidate a zek in a Siberian labour camp if he was a guard, and he was trying to get us to go away. I'm not sure he could have honestly thought that this stupid, moronic, pathetic attempt to stop us from picketing could even have remotely worked. If he was honestly trying to bribe us, then he has to be the Org's poster boy for how to completely and utterly screw up the application of the "infallible" tech. If he wasn't seriously trying, then it's no wonder that the Org is pathetically downstat, because with guys like him at the helm Scientology sure doesn't need SP's.

Well, the rest of the day went without incident. I chatted with a few passers-by. After one, I told the SP's, "I enturbulated his theta with invalid processes!" Hehe. Just me punning badly. One person gave a quick message of support while he was walking by, mentioning that he lost a friend to the Org a few months back. I never got to ask for more details, unfortunately. I also, near the end of the picket, gave flyers away by saying "If I don't give them away I have to carry them home!"

See you in a while, cult.