October 17, 1998 - Wulfen

Usual picket deal.. Woke up in my nice new apartment, and wandered over to the meeting place.. The usual Toronto crowd gathered. Gregg, Android Cat and me went into McDonald's for breakfast. Saw a Scientologist while I was in there.. She didn't smile at me, even though I smiled at her.. Hehe. ;-)

I made my own sign for this picket.. It had a split personality. One side:

WWW.XENU.NET

Other side:

$cientology
Costs
A
Mint

The $CAM side looked rather amateurish, though.. It was written in a typeface I call "If I don't get a move on with this sign, I'll be here all night" Friday Night point. ;-) I'll do a better job for next time...

Picket went well, although there were some bumps. First, it's a twisted world when I write a flyer yet Artemis gives out more of them than me. Odd, that.. I passed out a fair number of flyers, though. My $cientology Costs A Mint flyers (thanks to Jour0 for the idea), Roland's $cientology: Insane Cult (that was a popular one, thanks Roland), and the occasional Xenu/Crimes flyer that Gregg prints up.

Second, the Scientologists were doing their best to be real bastards this time. One kept saying to Gregg, "I'm going to expose you." Gregg called the police officer over, and complained.. It's funny, but when the police officer stayed for a while, the Scientologist cut it out. He did the same thing to me later.. Saying "Get a life. Get a life. Get a life." over and over and over. Pertinent question: Why wouldn't he do this in front of the police officer? Is he afraid that his Repeated and Vexatious conduct might be seen as harrassment (R and V is the legal definition of the term, as far as I know, I Am Not A Lawyer) ?

As Deep Wog has already mentioned, the Org had Downstat the Theta Clown out passing out balloons. This clown would have scared me when I was a child.. Dirty shoes, a costume whose cleanliness was uncertain, and only a painted-on smile. At least Downstat was giving out balloons.. Which some kids lost, because they didn't have a loop tied in the balloon strings for kids' hands to hold.

The cult was handing out The Way To Happiness, and I did get my copy. No, I didn't nick it.. Down the street, there was a pile of them lying in a doorway where passers-by threw them away. This happens in every picket.. Scientology literature littering the street as garbage, whereas our leaflets vanish into purses and pockets. I get all my Scientology literature that way. And before you ask, no, I'm not fussy... Scientology literature belongs down there with all the other trash.

There were some funny events, as at every picket. For some reason, a Scientologist practically flung herself across the sidewalk to give a woman some literature. The Scientologists were laughing when I described the contents of the RealAudio files of Hubbard's lunacy (in Roland's $cientology: Insane Cult leaflet). They haven't heard it in the Original Hubbard, I suppose..

Also, Mario (Hubbard Dianetics Foundation missionholder) was saying how much we increase his book sales.. He said he'd sold 10 that day. I'd like to see the receipts for that one... ;-) He was also counting down to 5:00, when we wind down the picket. Mario can be a fun guy. Before, I yawned, and he imitated me with a bit of street theatre about how boring the picket was.. Mario is a funny guy. :-)

Speaking of Mario, he must be squeezed from all sides, financially. He has LOADS of overhead tied up in Scientology books.. He might be paying rent to the Org, and he certainly has to pay licencing fees to RTC (or whoever). Also, we're out there ensuring that people (at least some of them) are warned about the Scientology scam. Just out of curiosity.. Have I missed anything? What other fees does a HDF missionholder have to pay?

Well, it's been fun. Stay tuned for next month's picket!