September 19, 1998 - Wulfen

Contents:

1) Prologue: Drive-By Enturbulation (98/09/18)
2) All-Star Picket: Toronto (98/09/19)
3) Epilogue: Peeping Sea Orger (98/09/19)
4) Postscript: Downstat Toronto Org (98/09/20)
5) Other: Personal Notes (98/09/20)
X) Image URL: http://www.geocities.com/athens/styx/2167/

1) Prologue: Drive-By Enturbulation (98/09/18)

After dinner with Bob and Stacy last night (Sept 18), Gregg was driving me home. He decided to swing by the Org. We noticed Mario (the Hubbard Dianetics Foundation missionholder) talking to two passers-by outside the HDF part of the Org. I had a copy of my new "$cientology costs a MINT" (thank you Jour0 for the idea) flyer at hand. I had the idea to give Mario the leaflet. Gregg stopped the car, and I leapt out. Mario's jaw dropped, and stayed floored throughout the encounter. I put the leaflet on the table in front of the three people there, and said "Here's a copy of what we're passing out tomorrow, I just thought you'd like one." (quote approximate) Just before jumping back into the car I waved, and told him, "Xenu loves you!" Then, Gregg drove us back into the night, and we howled in suppressive laughter...

2) All-Star Picket: Toronto (98/09/19)

[Pictures at: http://www.geocities.com/athens/styx/2167/ (big page, 513 KB of thumbnails, download it while you read ARS, hehe). More to come from Deep Wog and perhaps Artemis once they get them scanned.]

In attendance (forgive me if I forget a few names, there were so many..): Bob Minton, Stacy Young, Gregg Hagglund, Artemis, Deep Wog, Android Cat, Slippery Jim, Nan McLean, A Man and His Daughter (the lords of modular sign tech), Efish, Preacher, Seanster, the guy from the Cult Information Service (name escapes me), some other guy, and some other guy after that. Yes, the Toronto ARSCC September picket, at its most numerous, consisted of 17 people. How about that, eh?

Leaflets given out: Xenu/Crimes from Gregg (approx 1500), "$cientology costs a MINT"/"The HUMAN COST of $cientology" which I wrote (idea stolen from Jour0, sosumi), although Artemis passed out way more of them than I did (about 400 of these for all of us combined), COLOUR Lisa and Xenu flyers from A Man and His Daughter (wow), and Dejanews archive proofs of the harrassment of the Youngs' cat shelter contributed by the guy from the Cult Information Service (don't know about these last numbers).

Here's how my day went...

Got up waaaay to damn early, and got picked up by Gregg. Made it to the Starbucks rendezvous with plenty of time to spare. Artemis came by with Bob and Stacy, and the rules of picketing in Toronto were explained. Finally, the time came, and we all went to Gregg's car to pick up the signs. The appropriate flyer ammo and signs were distributed, and we went over to the Org.

Big surprise: NO police officer! We started picketing, and the cult were pretty obnoxious. Then, the police officer turned up. He was late.. And the assembled cultists stopped blocking the sidewalk (for the most part). It's nice when "the most ethical people in the world" are made to obey Wog Law.

The Org had loads of Scientologists (lots imported from out of town, it seems), and three emeter tables set up outside the Hubbard Dianetics Foundation. They had leafleters nearly everywhere (or so it seemed). We saw a few emeters that had to be from out of town too, because we've never seen more than two emeters at past pickets (and we do recognize those emeters).

Because of our assorted special guests (Bob and Stacy and Nan) Gregg suggested that we have cameras ready and waiting. So, we had Artemis at one end with a still camera/tripod combination and Deep Wog wandering about on the other side of the street with a still camera/monopod combo. Bob Minton and Stacy Young had digital still cameras, and later on in the picket another picketer arrived with a videocamera. The Scientologists had a video camera, several still cameras, and later on in the picket were taping us with another videocamera from inside the Hubbard Dianetics Foundation.

Whenever someone would point a camera at me, I'd mug for the lens and say "smile and say Xenu!" Once or twice I tried the line about being David Miscavige's pin-up boy now, but it wasn't nearly as enturbulating. :-) Efish from Vancouver complained to the policeman about the cultist taking efish's picture without asking permission, but it seemed that the officer didn't do anything about it, because the cultist was still at it later.

About mid-way through the morning picket, we noticed something odd.. Bob Minton had vanished! We looked about the street, but couldn't see him. Finally, Gregg took to the other side of the street with his megaphone, announcing "Bob Minton, please report to the sales desk!" and other "where are you" type of calls. Finally, he emerged.. with a fistful of deutschmarks!! It turned out that he was in the moneychanger's, getting some German currency. He then picketed with his "Hubbard's Third Reich" sign in one hand and a fistful of Deutschmarks in the other hand. His slogan was "Pay your deutschmarks, join a neo-nazi group!" Poor Stacy, she was so worried while he was gone..

A while later, he vanished again (but only for a few minutes this time). He was in a store buying a hideously ugly mask, of the kind that kids (well, older kids) wear on halloween. His new slogan: "See Hubbard at his best! Go inside and read him at his worst!" and "The true face of Scientology!" Has anyone else noticed Bob having just too much fun at pickets? ;-)

As we were picketing, more and more people kept showing up. When the number on the sidewalk went to 16, Gregg called an early lunch. There were so many entheta beings around, that we actually needed some organization to avoid blocking the sidewalk... Not bad, eh?

When we got to lunch, it turned out that there were a number of Scientologists there, trying to block the patio (by sitting 1 or 2 per table). Gregg, being as cunning as ever, had reserved the patio for our large party. The theta beings were given a table, though. We had to push four tables together for our party, and even then some people sat at another table so that the suppressive cigarette fumes wouldn't get them.

Gregg got calls on his cell phone from all over the continent.. From Ted Mayett in Las Vegas, Tallullah in Ottawa. Were there others? I forget.. As well, Jesse Prince was on Stacy's phone, and he got to say hi to a few of the assembled suppressives.

Meanwhile, the Scientologists at the other table were eating with some gusto. They looked hungry. Then, just when they were about done, Bob Minton went inside and covered their bill. :-) When they were leaving, one thanked Bob by gesture (a polite gesture), and another said "thank you". So, the Scientologists accepted Minton Money (Minton Food?). Stacy pointed out that they would need to write Knowledge Reports and be assigned "lower ethics conditions" for taking charity from an SP. Lower ethics conditions? For eating food? Sheesh..

At lunch Gregg tried to impose some organization on us. Why? Because if one of us blocks the sidewalk, Gregg will get in trouble as well because he signed the picket notification. ;-) The plan was that we would all go around the side of the Org before walking back across the front, so there wouldn't be a crowd of 17 SP's on a single stretch of sidewalk. Well.. That was the plan.

Before resuming our picket for the afternoon, the assembled SP's lined up in front of the Org for a photo (posted to ABS, webbed as above). We smiled and said "Xenu". ;-)

Finally, it was time to implement Gregg's organizational plan. You remember all those jokes about how organizing SP's is like herding cats? Well, they're not jokes.. People wandered all over the place. Things settled down, but for a while it was like Brownian motion gone mad.

Well, Gregg had to take a few more business calls in the second half of the picket, so I ended up spelling him on "point" the odd time. Some of my slogans were as follows:

"... as written by the lying, drug-addicted, bigamous founder of Scientology, L. Ron Hubbard!"

"The suppressive whole track overts of Scientology!"

"Scientology, somewhere on a moral continuum between Amway and the mafia!" (I won't be using this again, Gregg pointed out that in Canada Amway has clean hands.. At least, relative to Amway in the US, I think.)

"Scientology, it's not just a UFO cult anymore!"

"Read all about it! The utter, hugely, shamefully embarrassing secret of Scientology!"

I handed out more flyers while sloganeering than walking around. On the other hand, walking around let me observe Bob in action, which is no end of entertaining. :-)

The Bob and Stacy show was in full flight. Bob was having mounds of fun, and the Scientologists couldn't even heckle. Even better, Stacy was incredibly happy. One incident stood out (my 2nd hand report): A Scientologist was bull-baiting Bob, and Stacy asked Gregg if he was allowed to do this. Gregg talked to the officer on the scene, and the officer squashed the cultist's bull-baiting. Stacy was so happy.. It's different in Canada, the land with the despicable criminal cult problem (as opposed to the US, the land of the despicable 510(c)3 corporation problem).

Later on the picket thinned out a bit. Nan McLean was talking to a student (for his school report on Scientology) in the doughnut shop across the side road from the Org. Deep Wog was wandering about taking pictures again, and one or two people had to leave (long drive home for them).

Then.. Scientology started passing out DA flyers about Bob Minton (posted to ABS, webbed as above)!! It's the first picket that I've been at where there were DA flyers passed out. Bob and Stacy left shortly after, to post the flyer and some preliminary pictures. The Scientologists continued to pass out the DA flyers, and were heckling a bit with the "their leader left after only one leaflet.. how non-confront!" sleaze.

Finally, some Scientologists were trying to push Gregg's buttons, about a certain matter that it took them 5 months to find out about (Gregg can tell you about this). Gregg responded with a few slogans.. "Scientology reverend exonerated on pedophilia charges!" and so on. Buttnor (the *cough* "reverend" in question) complained, and the police officer apparently told him that if they were going to mention Gregg's button, then he shouldn't complain. Very soon after, the Scientologists "clammed up". :-)

On a side note, it must have been pretty awful for Al Buttnor, the Toronto DSA. All these Scientologists might have to write knowledge reports, telling Buttnor "the evil SP's were saying that you were exonerated on pedophilia charges". As well, Buttnor will never hear a judge tell the Crown Attorney that the charges against Buttnor were ridiculous, because the charges were dropped due to improper police procedure. So, people will always, at some level, wonder exactly how things would have gone in the case. It's unfortunate for Buttnor, really.

After this button-pushing incident, things quieted down a bit. Until.. Efish (and later me) saw the Scientologists making signs (black on yellow like ours). They seemed to want to come out and play.. Until the police officer on the scene told them, in no uncertain terms, NO. So, they took their signs and drove off in a car. It turns out that they were picketing Gregg Hagglund's house, but that's a story better told by the homeowner in question.

Finally, the picket ended, and we dropped off the picket supplies in Gregg's car on the way to the post-picket rendezvous. Turned out.. The Scientologists were there already, sitting around a table across the bar. Visions of RPG-style barroom encounters dancing in my head (I sometimes GM WFRP sessions), I sat down with the other SP's. But, naturally, the members of the criminal cult were rather well-behaved. After all, they don't want to risk the cult getting dragged into a losing lawsuit, not when they can barely afford to keep the Org open...

After the post-picket debrief, a lot of us went back to the hotel where Bob and Stacy were staying, to have supper. The food was delicious, and the conversation revolved around Scientology, computer programming (interrogating Seanster about his cracking feat), and other stuff. Bob and Stacy were seated at different tables, so the Mac vs PC holy wars weren't refought like they were the previous evening. ;-) The evening ended in the hotel bar, laughing about and at the pathetically downstat Org. Or did it?

3) Epilogue: Peeping Sea Orger (98/09/19)

Just as the assembled SP's were getting up to leave, Artemis noticed a face at the window. It was Wimpy the Sea Orger! (The same Wimpy that cried when Artemis flunked him for non-confront at a previous picket, poor man.) Artemis and I ran out of the hotel and around the corner, and discovered Wimpy lurking behind a traffic pillar. Bob caught up to us, and we all said hi, asking him why he was spying on us. Stacy caught up, and I introduced her (Stacy Young, high up in the Sea Org, worked under Hubbard and DM, with the implication of course that she was somebody and he was nobody). Stacy started talking to him, and he started walking away. Well, we didn't have a satisfactory answer as to why he was stalking us, so we followed him. Finally, it was obvious that despite the allegedly infallible Hubbard "tech", Wimpy still couldn't confront. So, we left him to contemplate his down statistic. The knowledge report he had to write must have been hell. (Don't you know, I'm not sympathetic. It is NOT nice to stalk people.)

4) Postscript: Downstat Toronto Org (98/09/20)

I'm the guy webbing the pictures from this picket, so I had to get the pictures taken by Bob and Stacy. My email inbox filled up, so I drove into Toronto to get them on a zip disk. On the way back to the highway, I passed the Org. Know what I saw? Scientologists sitting around morosely outside. The crowd was passing, oblivious. There was no body routing going on, not even any smiles at passers-by. More evidence.. The Org only puts a brave front on when SP's are parading around outside.

5) Other: Personal Notes (98/09/20)

I met Bob Minton and Stacy Young. Bob and Stacy are nice people. Scientology and Scientologists try to make their lives miserable. This is, to me, reasonable proof that Bob and Stacy are in the right and Scientology is in the wrong. After all, would a real church try to hurt people?

I had what in Scientology would be called a "cognition". I realized that when someone says "no thanks" to a body router and they reply "OK!" or "Sure!" they aren't responding in a human fashion, they are applying their TR drills. Their human interaction has been reduced to the level of stimulus-response. They have all the free will of a Pavlovian dog, who will salivate upon the ring of a bell. That is VERY scary.

Scientology in Canada are (at least compared to the US) powerless to stop entheta from curdling the air about them. No matter how many picketers there are out in front of the Org, we always outnumber the theta beings. After all, the passers-by are on our side.. They know that Scientology is a scam.

Nan McLean is as hard as diamond, and as fiery when illuminated. Scientology tried their hardest to break her, and they couldn't. Now, the cult deserves whatever publicity she can give them. In cult language, their overts against her pulled it in.

I accepted Minton money.. Or at least Minton food. Does that mean I'm on the take? If I am, then there are a few Scientologists who are, too. How about that, eh?

Seeing Stacy Young so happy was likely the highlight of the picket. Like Nan McLean, Scientology has tried hard to crush her. Once she got to the True North Strong And Free (words from Canada's national anthem), she was totally at cause. Scientology could not then and can not now do anything to hurt her up here. Seeing her relief, and through it understanding the depravity the cult will sink to, only serves to reinforce my conviction that Scientology has to have its societal and legal choke chain yanked good and hard.

I got to meet lots of intelligent, well-adjusted, successful people. None of them were Scientologists. I likely have the worst job there, but I'm only starting out in my career (I'm beginning to hate drawing 1-bit and 2-bit graphics). The Scientology staff members have day jobs, and I've seen a couple bussing tables. It's good work if you can get it, but it's not the kind of success that Scientology promises. More lies of the criminal cult..

A Suppressive Person is a powerful being. I outnumber Scientology 1 to 8,000,000. >-)

Until we meet again, cult.