August 21, 1999 - AndroidCat

Ah, okay. Stretch, oh ouch! (backrub!) Let's see...

I arrived a bit after 10am. In attendance were Artimis/Alan, Wulfen, Gregg, Mike and (slightly late) myself. Later arrivals: Gypsy Blue, Deep Wog, and Gregg.

In opposition, Andy Hill, Dan (not Murman, Toronto Dan), and Nick played semi-active roles. George did the clam-cam as usual. But only for the morning. They all pissed off after lunch. A few of the router regulars were missing as well. Could the org be shrinking?

Mike was a new addition to the ilk. He's an ex-member of the Toronto org--specifically the ex-celebrity centre in Toronto. Involved in music, with a gold record (which Co$ might still have). He has a whole lot of stories to tell. It was very easy to forget to walk while talking to Mike. He was into $cientology at the $50,000 level. He wants a refund. So far he's received $50.

This picket was a bit of an "outing" for Mike. Co$ really does screw people over. I urged Mike to post his story on ARS.

The general Co$ reaction to Mike was almost but not quite the reaction to Nan or Stacy. They seem to have real problems dealing with the concept of an ex-member who wasn't swallowed up by the Earth or hit by a Venutian train, and actually dares to be critical.

I need only refer to Andy Hill's DA of Mike to show how effective he was.

This picket we had a (ex)body router on *our* side! (Mike is good at handing out leaflets--but I told him to watch Gypsy Blue.)

Gregg and Alan went over to the dark side (of the street) across from the org.

Before lunch, Gregg left to do that cultus-interruptus thing at his place: "anti harassment picket outside his home". (Snork!)

Gypsy Blue arrived and handed out more leaflets in 30 minutes than I had all morning. (And she said she was having an off day. Oi!) (Deep Wog arrived too, but he's not so cute.)

As we broke for lunch, PETER RAMSEY showed up and handed a few of us letters. (I thought I was being served at first, but it's just he was too cheap to buy stamps, and maybe he still only has my buzz code for my address?) Visualize his insanity of a few months ago. Multiply it by three and a bit. Wulfen has the documents and will be scanning them in after delivering copies to the Hate Crimes unit. Unbelievable!

BTW Peter, any illegal signs for Avenue Roofing (a Co$ish company) are toast now. And Mike confirmed that you're OSA. Oops!

During lunch much was discussed. Ramsey's letters were laughed at. (And notes taken for possible legal action) We got to see Mike's actual SP Declare. Ooo! Lots of other things, but those'll have to be sent over the private channel. <wink-wink> Another ex-member who's been supportive for a lot of pickets also joined us.

Oddly enough, Mike had absolutely nothing about Al Buttnor. He arrived from Alberta with a HELL of a PTS liability, later cleared up, but no one seems to know what he was doing before that. If anyone could shed some light here, it would help. (Al, I know that you're reading this so post us a bio, please?)

Mike did mention an interesting ex-Scientology video that he had. I pointed him at www.xenutv.com and told him that many people would love to web it.

My comment about Co$'s infomercial on Rogers was that I've been on Rogers cable 10 a lot more than they have in the last five years. (Check out Brains on Toast comedy OSA. Let me know what you think. If.) Meanwhile things are proceeding at high level with Rogers. (Shh!) Way to go Enzo! SP2 with clusters at least! www.now.com It must be shocking that a local Toronto weekly paper dares to keep publishing good articles about Co$. (Learn to live with it eh!)

After lunch, most of the anti-picketers had pissed off. Too bad, because Gregg got "Mr. Too-Tightly" to say that he'd blow if Gregg handed him proof that Hubbard lied. Gregg had the proof after lunch, but the guy wasn't there. PTS!

The afternoon was pretty boring except for a brief heckling of Peter Ramsey across the street. Gregg did get a "please don't cause a disturbance no matter have fun it is" from the officer. *KA-CHING*! Yes, I can see that Co$'s money spent to prevent violence is money well spent. The officer did get to do a lot of community policing as well as putting a kid in cuffs. (He loved it, the young rascal!)

Dress was appropriate for the street crowd. If we'd have worn ties, they'd have thought we were JoHos. Overdressing doesn't win points and we weren't there to sell anything. We pretty well matched the body routers. Street casual. "Someone you trust is one of us" and Tilley's shorts.

A whole lotta flyers handed out. I went through at least 200. About 1200 total, I think. A little Insane Cult, a lot of variations of The Story of Xenu, Wulfen's new flyer, etc.

The org continues to degrade. There are now four air-conditioners on the front of the building, but even more broken windows. (Weirdly broken! A big smash at the top, then a trailing bit towards the bottom. Those'd take a damned big flying ashtray to break!) The top floor has many windows wide open, but the other floors don't have any. It must be hell if they use those other floors.