n article<20040225204849.10061.00000440@mb-m17.aol.com>, Mercurialbroad
<mercurialbroad@aol.com> writes:
What did you make of "Scientology's War against the Judges?"
In between having to do some actual work for my employer today, I read more
links at xenu.net, inlcuding many damning statements from courts and articles
about the targeting of individuals, including judges, who are deemed enemies of
the CoS. (I also read Tory's account of her yrs in the CoS and her time here,
and HER ultimate defection. That was very moving; the online machinations she
decribes and her fear of "friends" as she began acting contrary to CoS
expectations, was very disturbing.)
[I continue to have serious issues with notions of "coercive persuasion,"
however, which some courts found re: the CoS, and must stick by my position
that coercion involves: force, it's threat, extortion as defined at law, or
fraud. Not just strong peer pressure or threat of ostracism or shunning. I am,
alas, likely to remain intransigent on that subject. :)]
Anyway, it is now utterly clear to me that the CoS is sui generis, and not at
all like the vast majority of new (or old) religious movements. As I said in my
initial posts here, I am a fervent civil libertarian and I am coming to regard
the CoS as a significant threat to the values and liberties I hold dear.
Keepin mind that many of the accusations against the Cos have long, long been
made about every religion, when it is new. It has been, for me, unexpected to
find that the CoS is actully conforming to some of the worst atrocities its
crticis report.
I assume if you are doing a long study of this then you are writing up
notes of some sort, which will possibly be webbed or made available to
others. If so it would be interesting to see how you put this part :->
"The Church of Scientology is accused of various criminal activities;
as of course many other small sects have. Most researchers would
be skeptical + want evidence for these crimes before believing them.
The obvious question is why they haven't been convicted of these
crimes. Opponents say the courts have been scared off or corrupted;
which would be an easy excuse for any charges if the truth were
that they just weren't proven. Most skeptical researchers would
want evidence for interference in the courts before believing it.
What form would such evidence take? Well, opponents allege that
typical CofS tactics in the courts (based on actual CofS policies)
are to turn or intimidate witnesses, to get opposing lawyers
disbarred or hostile judges recused, and last but not least to
endlessly appeal and re-litigate rather than settle in defeat.
Such conduct in the FORM of legal strategy would be revealed by
the FORM of litigation records, i.e. that there would be large
numbers of motions to disbar, to recuse, and so forth.
And the record does seem to support this:---
date, case, attempt to recuse judge X
date, case, attempt to disbar attorney Y
date, case, state official pressured into altering testimony.
Again, such evidence is more credible if it is the legal community
(rather than Scientology opponents) who believe there are systematic
attacks. The American Lawyer carried an article "Scientology's....
One of the creepier or more bizarre events is the mystery of
the dog that went glug in the night. The article records how
Judge Ronald Swearinger, while trying a Scientology case,
"came home to find the tyres slashed on his jeep and his dog
drowned in the pool." It was never proved who was responsible,
but it is entirely consistent with Scientology's methods.
Fishman claims to have met the junior Scientologists who did this,
but Fishman sometimes exaggerates or invents. At any rate it has
been much taken up and mocked by Scientology opponents, who have
a pull-toy dog with waterwings known as Duke which they bring to
pickets of Orgs.
BTW, about Mr. Berry admitting to suborning perjury, he is only one of the few
attys who got caught. Among the reasons I am so disillusioned with lawyers and
lawyering, and cannot bring myself to do it now (and yes, I am in good standing
with my bar and do maintain my license), is a revulsion at the rampant
corruption in the profession. Lying and suborning perjury is utterly common. It
is a pity he succumbed, but so have many others.
Erm.... yes, but the point is that MR WAGER admitted the details of
suborning perjury from a homosexual prostitute by handing him bundles
of bills, in the course of ACTING AS COMPLAINANT AND BAR ASSOCIATION
CHAIR to have MrBerry disbarred for effectively representing his client
..and the hearing went right ahead and suspended Berry for being honest
not Wager for being corrupt.
It is as if Carlo Gambino sat in the
judges chair, and sent the FBI agents off to high security jail.
--Mona--
In article<403E1AEE.9050308@cox.net>, barb <bwarr1@cox.net> writes:
IIRC, Wager was given money by Moxon which was intended to buy false
testimony from a prisoner, thus providing a link to the perjury to Moxon
and the "church."
This is the same Moxon who sacrificed his daughter as a burnt offering
in the transformer vault.
Good heavens, Mona! Try to be a bit more careful with your statements!
The cult follows these newsgroups, and Graham certainly doesn't need
accusations of perjury following him around!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In article<403E0671.B3703442@aol.com>, Ed <metasyn@aol.com> writes:
Anyway, it is now utterly clear to me that the CoS is sui generis, and not at
all like the vast majority of new (or old) religious movements.
You're making progress... but if you dig into the Moonies and
other cults (AKA some of the "new religions") you'll find the great
majority of them have similar abuses that are detailed on websites.
True, the Co$ goes much farther into litigation and legal intimidation
and has more of a publicly documented legal trail, but the other abusive
cults are quite unholy and downright ugly in their
abuses.rickross.com/links has a nifty collection of listings for maybe
200 or so of them. I really hope you'll take a look there.
They are NOT "sui generis". A minority of cults are fond of
using force both in the courts and by overt violence. One
thinks of Synaon and the snake in the mailbox, Captain Bagwash
and the food-poisoned lettuces, through to Aum Shin-Rikyo
which murdered in large numbers and used Sarin gas in Tokyo.
Short of the overt killers such as Aum, CofS is one of the worst:
but it is not one of a kind, it is similar among the more
violent of the violent minority. Not f
