MIAMI — Rosa Hernandez remembers this about her dentist: He sure could close a deal. She and her husband, Mauricio, had gone to Dr. Rene Piedra with a host of concerns. She had sensitive gums and a paralyzing fear of dentists. He needed bonding. Piedra, dressed in a business suit instead of a dental coat, showed them computerized models of how he would fix their teeth. He offered them a discount because they came in together, and helped them with a ...

[Excellent compendium regarding this Panorama Special: http://ocmb.xenu.net/ocmb/viewtopic.php?t=32865.]

The director of Milk and the author of American Psycho are to write a film about the lives and deaths of artists Theresa Duncan and Jeremy Blake [Picture / Caption: Pens at the ready … Gus van Sant and Bret Easton Ellis. Photographs: Focus Features/Everett/Rex Features and Jennifer Graylock/AP] It is a tale of intrigue, paranoia and harassment by unseen forces, one which takes in the rock star Beck, the Church of Scientology and 9/11 conspiracies. It ends with the deaths ...

Part ONE of THREE The leader of the Church of Scientology strode into the room with a boom box and an announcement: Time for a game of musical chairs. David Miscavige had kept more than 30 members of his church's executive staff cooped up for weeks in a small office building outside Los Angeles, not letting them leave except to grab a shower. They slept on the floor, their food carted in. Their assignment was to develop strategic plans for the ...

A man was arrested today accused of having sex with a teenager at the Church of Scientology in Downtown Cincinnati. Twenty-one-year-old Ben Kasle is charged with two counts of gross sexual imposition. Investigators say he had sex with the girl who is now 14-years-old. Police records indicate the alleged offenses happened at the church on Fourth Street between October 2007 and September 2008. An attorney representing the church says the church is aware of the investigation and is cooperating with police, ...

[Picture / Caption "What exactly is Educating Children International?"] There's a mystery brewing regarding tonight's Beck show at the Echo, which is being billed as a benefit for something called "Educating Children International." The flyer, posted above, lists the organization's website as www.educatingchildreninternational.org, but there's nothing at that URL. We took the process one step further and did a domain search, and, lo, the address is listed as available for purchase. So the question becomes, what lies at the other end ...

There's been a touch of Internet controversy today about Beck's somewhat-impromptu show at the Echo tonight, first started by blogger Sketchytown, then picked up by the LA Weekly's West Coast Sound blog. Both blogs raised a flag about a charity cited on the show's promotional material, Educating Children International, which, according to the promo poster, will get the "net proceeds" of the show priced at a cool $35. Nothing was mentioned about any connections with Scientology, and the website for the ...

Bishop E.L. Warren says the goal is far-reaching, but so is the problem it is addressing. "The purpose of this is to eradicate illiteracy and provide a new place of learning and hope in downtown Quincy," he said. Warren, who pastors the Cathedral of Worship, 215 N. 25th, and is the head of E.L. Warren Ministries International, said earlier this week that Quincy will be the headquarters of the Vision Literacy Center. There will be 52 learning centers around the world, ...

As early as the third grade, students in S.F. and elsewhere are subtly introduced to church's concepts via anti-drug teachings A popular anti-drug program provided free to schools in San Francisco and elsewhere teaches concepts straight out of the Church of Scientology, including medical theories that some addiction experts described as "irresponsible" and "pseudoscience." As a result, students are being introduced to somebeliefs and methods of Scientology without their knowledge. Anyone listening to a classroom talk by Narconon Drug Prevention & ...

Scientologists believe they are saving the world from insanity, war and crime. "Saving the world is an understatement," said former member Kenneth Wasserman. "Saving the universe" is more like it, he said. This intense sense of purpose explains why some Scientologists are willing to work 12-hour days for $30 a week. Others pay up to $800 for an hour of counseling, and one couple brought a $35,000 counseling package. Critics say this sense of mission has another consequence: Next to saving ...

[This is a reprint of an article published on December 23, 1988 in the St. Petersburg Times.]

NEWKIRK, OK – A proposed drug treatment and rehabilitation center which could be in operation on Indian land at the former Chilocco Indian School north of Newkirk by June 15th may be part of a notorious religious cult. Narconon was approved for a 75-bed facility by the State Health Planning Commission in January of this year as part of The Chilocco Development Authority. The projected cost is $400,000 for renovation and the five Indian tribes involved are projected to receive $16,000,000 ...

After years of sparring with the townsfolk and veiling itself in secrecy, the Church of Scientology has succeeded in turning Clearwater into its spiritual mecca. Scientologists quietly run teen nightclubs, schools, day-care centers, management consulting firms and other businesses, records and interviews show. Now the strategy of the organization, longtime observers say, is to confront controversy, gain converts and make money - lots of it. Scientology's Clearwater operation brings in $1.5-million to $2-million a week, say church watchers who include Clearwater ...

THE author of a book that allegedly blows the whistle on the bizarre founder of the Church of Scientology says he has been terrorized by cult fanatics seeking to suppress the shocking exposé. "They've sent out thugs to intimidate me, threatened my family, tried to bribe us and even tried to jail the publisher," says Bent Corydon, author of L. Ron Hubbard: Messiah Or Madman? (Lyle Stuart). Corydon, a loyal disciple of Hubbard and his cult for nearly 22 years, now ...