"Find yourself in situations where you can't bring a handset but are in desperate need of one? [...] The win? You'll find yourself in the company of secret agent Maxwell Smart as you surreptitiously dial and take calls from your shoe."
"US boffins say they have developed a method for treating children with autism - the condition characterised by repetitive behaviour, difficulties understanding human language and/or lack of imagination - by having them spend time with robots."
"[...] Scientology Auditing does not erase memories as the article implies that the drugs do.
Auditing erases the trauma associated with the memories. The memories themselves are still there, it's the pain and suffering associated with them that is gone.
If you had an accident and the memory was completely removed then you could easily make the same mistakes again and repeat the accident. If you have the trauma removed then you can remember exactly what happened and thereby learn from your mistakes.
I think that's a much better solution."
"[...] Not much activity. A couple of Scilons waved at us while going to their cars, and one guy flashed me a peace sign after reading my sign as I stood by the driveway. [...]"
Now she claims, that she would like to help other people to get out of the cult. If asked to show one, only one person, whom she helped to break free, she has no answer.That may be a good point. I saw several times in ARS titles from her along the line of "another OT 8 leaves the CoS, way to go OSA" but I never had time to follow through such claims. Having seen her lie and censor about her seizures in the Jett Travolta tragedy, I do give some credence to the claims above. To be double-checked, though, given the fact that source is not very reliable either.
[...] One agenda of her is for example to find out, who is critical of the church or who wants to leave it. Thus she posts her phone number and asks people to call her, for she will help them. From time to time she reports such calls. She is always very happy when she receives a call like this and likes to end all her reports with the words: "Way to go, OSA!". Afterwards one never ever hears anything of this people who called her. There are no follow-ups from her, nor any statements of those people. Niente. Nothing. Nada. Nichts.
"[....] Instead of that I have read several stories of people, who left or wanted to leave and she contacted them. For example to a father of three, if I remember right (it was on ocmb, the story) and this man, Greg Bashaw, was in the hospital because he was very sick and in a poor psychic condition, but he was under surveillance and could have been helped of course. One day he got a visit from someone, whom he knew from the church. Hours later the man was dead. Name of the visitor: Tory Bezazian. Reason of Bashaw's death: suicide. When asked about this terrible incident, she never answered. She did not deny to have visited this man. "Jesse Prince was also with Magoo on that occasion.
[...] Observe how Ms. Zell has already made up her mind what the truth is about Jett Travolta, thus I am a "liar" from her perspective. At the end of the day, I agree with Harvard Psychology Professor Richard McNally who wrote that the best form of advocacy is to discover the facts about an issue, rather than attempting to turn an "ought" into an "is" [...].
Nice move from dazzlingly beautiful Halle Berry delivering a thank-you speech to the Raspberries, but I really have to disagree that her performance in Catwoman deserved a Razzie! (And I don't tag that as off-topic cause they also speak about Battlefield Earth. Travolta should go in there and thank L. Ron Hubbard too!)"The Oscar-winning actress went over to what many in Hollywood would consider the dark side when she turned up in person at the Golden Raspberry Awards in 2005 to accept her Worst Actress award for the film Catwoman."
"it's good to see anon do something helpful for once"
"At least in this instance they are using their wits and numbers to deal out some vigilante justice on a real piece of @$#%. From what I know of 4chan and its inhabitants I have very mixed emotions - but if they're going to use their abilities for good then my opinion may very well improve."
"and I never thought I'd say this...but... Go, Cyber-terrorist. Go."
"It's actually quite interesting to read about how they tracked the kids down and how they got the attention of the police. The Internet can be a very powerful force for good or ill. In this case good, but I fear it will be (and perhaps has been) used for ill."
"Just been trawling through all the links. This Kenny kid has brought and incredible shitstorm down on his own cowardly head. Richly deserved it is, too. The poor cat looks nothing short of desperate in those pics."
"Tom Cruise used a free weekend and took his fourteen year old son Connor to the automobile race Daytona 500, which is very popular in the USA. The famous actor and his company watched the event from a VIP section."
"[...] The L. Ron Hubbard House is just that, a house. Ron Hubbard lived there at one time. There isn't anything hidden or secret about that. Some people (including quite a few neighbors who aren't deranged) have actually enjoyed seeing the house and safely eating some coffee cake. [...]"
"CLEARWATER — Police investigated the role Scientology played in the suicide of a troubled young man two years ago, but did not conclude church members forced him off his antidepressant medication or contributed to his death.
[...]Clearwater police on Tuesday released more than 200 pages of documents from the investigation of Brennan's death. The reports don't provide evidence of a key claim in the lawsuit: that Brennan was denied access to the antidepressant Lexapro.Police instead learned that Brennan wasn't taking the medication regularly. The only Lexapro pills police found were in a 30-pill bottle issued to him almost three months earlier. Sixteen pills remained.
The mother's attorney, Ken Dandar, said Kyle was taking the medication as needed.
The young man's own psychiatrist told police the prescription would have to be carried out on a regular basis. He was not aware of any "major side effects" from suddenly withdrawing from the medication. The drug's Web site states that quickly coming off the drug can increase the risk of suicidal thoughts.
[...] Thomas Brennan told police he didn't approve of psychiatric medication because it clashed with his religious beliefs. But he said Kyle agreed to go off the medication because he didn't like taking it either — a claim that Kyle's mother and her attorney reject.
[...] He left two suicide notes that claimed people had failed him.
Prior to his death, Kyle Brennan, who had depression, anxiety and early signs of schizophrenia, lived in Virginia with his mother. In late 2006, he took $8,000 from his bank account and left on a cross-country trip.
On Jan. 7, 2007, his mother received a call from an FBI agent in Des Moines, Iowa, who said Kyle Brennan had stopped by and claimed he was being followed and "they were after him," the agent said. He wasn't eating and appeared emaciated.
Kyle turned up in San Diego at his aunt's home, according to the report. He told her that "they were hunting him down." The aunt tried to get him to seek mental help, but he left. Kyle contacted his father, who agreed to bring him to Clearwater.
[...] Thomas Brennan worked as a handyman on Denise and Gerald Gentile's properties in the area and became a friend of Denise's.
[...] The lawsuit claims that Denise Gentile was acting in her function as a "chaplain" when she interfered with Kyle Brennan's prescriptions.
[...] Denise Gentile admitted to police that she spoke very briefly with Kyle's mother about getting the young man drug treatment, but she said that was in her capacity as a friend — not as a representative of the church.
"Two corrupt judges have admitted getting paid for sending young offenders to private jails, often against the advice of probation officers and other court officials.
Bent judges Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan, both of Pennsylvania, admitted receiving $2.6m in kickbacks as part of a plea-bargaining agreement that will see each jailed for a minimum of seven years. The deal sparked protests from friends and relatives of youngsters affected by the case, some of who have already launched lawsuits. [...]"
"We salute their ideology. But not their methods.""
"Apple has blocked the creators of South Park from selling an iPhone app based on the long-running cartoon series.
According to a BoingBoing post, the blog site's 'friends at South Park' said that 'We first announced our iPhone App back in October, after we submitted the Application to Apple for approval. After a couple of attempts to get the application approved, we are sad to say that our app has been rejected.'
The reason? The content was 'potentially offensive.'"
