Police Report Found no Scientology Role in Suicide

Police report did not conclude church members forced Kyle Brennan off antidepressant. The Clearwater police released on Tuesday 200 pages of documents from the investigation.

Police report found no Scientology role in suicide - St. Petersburg Times:

"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.

Relate blog entries: R-KyleBrennan-

Mom Sues CoS in Son's Death

The mom of non-Scientologist Kyle T. Brenman, 20, who committed suicide on Feb. 16, 2007, is suing the CoS and three parishioners for wrongful death. The three parishioners are Denise Gentile, the twin sister of David Miscavige, her husband, and Kyle's father, Thomas Brennan.

The lawsuit claims Gentile and her husband persuaded Kyle Brennan's father to take away Kele's Lexapro, which he was taking for depression and anxiety, and which led him, the suit claims, to shot himself with a loaded .357 Magnum that he found in his father's apartment.

The suit is being brought by attorney Ken Dandar, well-known for his extended legal battle against Scientology during the Lisa McPherson case.

Mom sues Church of Scientology in son's death - St. Petersburg Times:

CLEARWATER — A mother has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the Church of Scientology, its Flag Service Organization and three parishioners, claiming they brought about her son's death by denying him access to his antidepression medication.

Among the three parishioners named as defendants: Denise Gentile, the twin sister of the church's current worldwide leader, David Miscavige, as well as her husband, Gerald Gentile.

The lawsuit stems from the death of Kyle T. Brennan, 20, who shot himself in the head on Feb. 16, 2007, in Clearwater, while visiting his father, who is a Scientologist.

[...] Filed in Tampa federal court Friday, the lawsuit claims Gentile and her husband persuaded Kyle Brennan's father to take away his Lexapro, which his son was taking for depression and anxiety.

The suit, which also names Thomas Brennan as a defendant, states that the defendants tried to put Kyle Brennan into a Narconon drug treatment program.

Kyle Brennan was not a Scientologist, the suit states.

The suit is being brought by attorney Ken Dandar, well-known for his extended legal battle against Scientology during the Lisa McPherson case. McPherson, a 36-year-old Scientologist, died in 1995 while in the care of church staffers in Clearwater.

Scientology spokesman Tommy Davis said the lawsuit is an attempt to "draw the church into something that we don't have anything to do with."

None of the Scientologists named as defendants were church staff members, he said. They were all just parishioners. And Davis emphasized that the events took place on private property without church involvement.

Even Narconon, the drug treatment program that uses L. Ron Hubbard's teachings, is a separate entity from the Church of Scientology, he said.

Still, the case draws attention to Scientology's opposition to psychiatric drugs like Lexapro, which it deems to be mind-altering.

The Web site for Lexapro warns users not to go off their medication suddenly, even if they are feeling better. Changes in dosage, it says, can cause patients on antidepressants to worsen their depression, show signs of mood changes and exhibit thoughts of suicide.

Before his death, Kyle Brennan lived at home in Charlottesville, Va., where he was attending college, Dandar said. He was in the second year of a liberal arts degree when he left school and traveled around the country, Dandar said.

Kyle Brennan made a number of stops, going as far west as Hawaii, but in February 2007 he found his way to Clearwater, to stay with his father, whom he hadn't seen since the summer before.

Dandar said Kyle was taking a 10 mg dose of Lexapro, which he descried as "moderate." It was prescribed for him in early 2006 to help him with depression and anxiety.

He continued to use the drug while staying in his dad's two-bedroom apartment at 423 Cleveland St. in Clearwater, Dandar said.

But a week into the stay, Denise Gentile and her husband prevailed upon Kyle's father to take away the Lexapro medication and lock it in his truck, the lawsuit alleges.

While Scientology spokesman Davis said Denise Gentile was not in any authority position at the church, the suit alleges she had the title of "chaplain" and was held up as an authority of sorts on helping families with emotional matters.

The Gentiles and Brennan also phoned Britton, the young man's mother, to try to persuade her to put Kyle in Narconon, the lawsuit states.

The mother, who is not a Scientologist, was adamant that she and her son did not want anything to do with the drug treatment, the lawsuit states. She insisted that her son be put back on Lexapro.

The medication remained locked away, the suit states.

On Feb. 16, 2007, just after 11 p.m., Kyle Brennan shot himself with a loaded .357 Magnum that he found in his father's apartment, the lawsuit states.

His father found him dead, his head slumped in a laundry basket.

The lawsuit said it is unclear how he got ahold of the gun, but it blames "one or more of the Defendants."

"They locked up his medicine, but not the loaded .357 Magnum. That's the story line," Dandar said. "I think that's the case."

Thomas Brennan did not return a phone call left on his voice mail. Neither Denise nor Gerald Gentile could be reached for comment.

Relate blog entries: R-KyleBrennan-

CoS Groups Returning Slakin Ponzi's Money

As I wrote on Dec. 20, 2008, I have never heard anybody who victim of in a pyramid scam agreeing to return money gained in such a scheme once it was discovered to be a scam money, and so far groups affiliated with the Church of Scientology are the only ones to do so in my knowledge. Here is recent mention of this:

Alleged Madoff victims may be vulnerable to other victims' claims - Los Angeles Times:

"In another case, groups affiliated with the Church of Scientology agreed in 2006 to pay back $3.5 million they received from former Santa Barbara money manager Reed Slatkin and others who invested with him. Slatkin is set for release in 2014 from the U.S. penitentiary at Lompac, where he has been serving time in connection with a $593-million operation in which money from some investors was used to pay off others -- the classic definition of a Ponzi scheme."

Related blog entries: R-Slatkin-

Pubes Accomplice Arrested as Accessory

Man who filmed petroleum jelly-covered Scientology protester's rampage arrested as accessory:

"The man who videotaped a petroleum jelly-covered protester on a rampage inside a Scientology center in Manhattan was arrested Tuesday for helping with the crime, police said.

Jacob Speregen, 21, of Brooklyn, was charged with two hate crimes including aggravated harassment and criminal mischief for helping Mahoud Samed Almahadin, aka Matt Connor, during the Jan. 14 incident. [...]

Jacob's mother argues that the fact her son filmed the preparation of the incident and the incident itself is part of his "free speech right" and not a hate crime.

R-pubes- related blog entries

Anon-Orange's Arrest

A while ago where shown videos of one Anonymous held to the ground by Gold's guards. The video was part of anti-Scientology forums using it to blame Scientology but the news was not really picked up further. One reason for this may have been the fact that what happened before was not shown.

More information on that incident is unfolding now.

"ANONYMOUS" IS A GANG OF CYBER-BULLIES AND ANTI-RELIGION EXTREMISTS: "ANON-ORANGE" PROVOKED AN ATTACK ON HIMSELF AS A PUBLICITY STUNT

"Several months ago, fifty-five year old Anonymous member 'Anon-Orange' (see below) screamed out '..FUCK YOU!' into the face of a security guard patrolling the perimeter of the Church of Scientology's Gold Base. The guards had repeatedly warned 'Anon-Orange' that he was indeed trespassing, and clearly didn't expect such a heated response.

As per their standard operating procedure, the security guard necessarily detained 'Anon-Orange' for trespassing and for acting aggressively.

Strangely, the videos which surfaced onto Youtube.com at the time of the incident neglected to show the provocative "...FUCK YOU!" which precipitated the arrest:

The videos which surfaced made it appear as though the arrest was in violation of his rights. Evidentally, this is the spin which Anonymous seeks to perpetuate. They want you to see "Scientology Bad Guys" attacking "Anonymous Good Guys".

So today, Anon-Orange just released his own footage, which sheds more light on the issue. Namely, that Anon-Orange provoked the attack."

You can watch the video on the page above or on youtube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8FFCNZifvU

More related information, that appeared in ARS today, although the background and time of this incidents reported are unclear at this stage:

Agent Orange Goes Back to Jail - alt.religion.scientology | Google Groups:

"After this morning's arraignment, AO is back in jail.

An offer was made to drop the charges down to a 3rd degree misdemeanor with a $100 fine if AO would admit to screaming and yelling at Danny Dunigan. Graham advised AO to take the offer, which also would have allowed AO to protest Gold at his leisure, but AO refused it.

Following this, Scilon attorney Eliott Abelson informed the judge that AO had violated the court order given at the last arraignment on three occasions:

-AO had been ordered to stay away from Danny Dunigan, yet within 20 minutes he was filmed on the steps of the courthouse cursing at Dunigan and shoving a camera in his face.

-AO had been ordered to stay away from Gold Base, yet he has been filmed driving around Gold on two separate occasions.

Abelson said they may also be charging AO for his harassing behavior toward Catherine Fraser following one of the Riverside County Board of Supervisors meetings.

AO was escorted out of the courtroom by the deputies and bail was set at $2,500."

Greasy Vandal in Hate Crime Arrested

Greasy vandal in hate crime vs. Scientology: "Mahoud Samed Almahadin - the name he gave cops - tossed a number of books around, then smeared the petroleum jelly on a TV set, shelves and himself during the incident at the W. 46th St. Scientology center last week."

This refers to the incident I reported on Jan. 10, and in which I wrote "Next time I hope they prevent the guy from exiting and charge him with vandalism and invasion of private property."

Well, they did not need to restrain him, as he was foolish enough to boast about it on the Internet and so could be traced.

I think there are two interesting aspects here:

1. The tendency of Anonymous to post their "peaceful protests" misdeeds on the Internet.
2. The tendency of Anonymous and Scientology critics to cheers and support such acts (at least a fair amount of them).
   

Here are three other examples, unrelated in their gravity but who all have the two elements above.

1. Angry Gay Pope posting his harassment of a young Scientology lad for two hours, something for which he ultimately earned a restraining order.
2. Pekka-Eric Auvinen, responsible for the Jokela school shooting that occurred on Nov. 7, 2007, posting on 4chan his intent to do it " in the name of anonymous" and encouraged in his act by his fellow anons who even cheered him as it happened in direct.
3. Tory Christman Magoo posting a video in the wake of the emotions generated by the Jett Travolta tragedy and in which she is blatantly lying, supported and cheered by critics.
   

R-pubes- related blog entries

The Riverside County Ordinance Farce Continues

Riverside County ordinance curtailing Scientology protests suspended | L.A. Now | Los Angeles Times: "Supervisor Roy Wilson moved to have the ordinance suspended for a month while county counsel and the Sheriff's Department determined exactly where protesters could assemble and what form their protests could take."

Back in Jan. 6 I wrote how this ordinance looked ridiculous, unenforceable without clear rules. This is exactly what happened.

The information I quoted yesterday from unreliable source IndyBay, that "the revision preserved Anonymous' right to protest in its usual position across from the main gate" appears indeed not that simple, and conflicting information about that bit now arise.

It now appears that Church lawyer Sam Alhadeff said last week that under the ordinance, protesters could stand next to the compound gates — not 50 feet away — as long as the demonstration doesn't take place adjacent to a church-owned residence.

Well, that's a hell of an ambiguous statement, not resolving anything.

In my opinion, the person to blame in this story is County Counsel Pamela Walls. She should not have let such an ambiguity go unchallenged, and should have pinpointed in advance where exactly the protesters could picked and see to it that the sheriff's office gets properly briefed.


Related blog entries:

• Jan 17: Is Close-in Pictures of Passer-By Legal?
  
• Jan 14: The Riverside County Ordinance Farce Continues
  
• Jan 13: Riverside Ordinance - New Information
  
• Jan 06: Riverside Ordinance Prevents Picketing
  
• Dec 18: Barbz Gets a Letter
  
• Dec 09: Anonymous 2.0

Riverside Ordinance - New Information

Breaking: Scientology international headquarters seeks ban on HIV+ protesters : Indybay

I have been blogging last January 6, about what appeared to be a ridiculous ordinance preventing critics from picketing Gold base.

However, what the article did NOT say, and what apparently was also concealed by critics, is the following information to be found in that article:

"However, the revision preserved Anonymous' right to protest in its usual position across from the main gate"

So, during all this time, critics were protesting about a supposedly anti free speech ordinance when in fact it preserved their right to protest in the position where they protested before?

Furthermore, we also learn of new developments as well:

"At one point, the Sheriff's Deputies emerged and their Sergeant informed us that Scientology and the Riverside County's Legal Counsel had worked out an interpretation of Ordinances 884 and 888. Provided we did not use the name of any living Scientologist specifically, and only protested Scientology generally, we could protest up and down both sides of Highway 79."

For the rest, I am highly skeptical of the article, considering the source. IndyBay has indeed been so biased against Scientology in the past it could virtually be considered as a critic mouthpiece, with all the cultic thinking that goes with it. I would need to wait for more reliable source before considering what they claim as a worthy news item.

I already note, however, a couple of fallacies, which I blog about separately here and here.


Related blog entries:

• Jan 17: Is Close-in Pictures of Passer-By Legal?
  
• Jan 14: The Riverside County Ordinance Farce Continues
  
• Jan 13: Riverside Ordinance - New Information
  
• Jan 06: Riverside Ordinance Prevents Picketing
  
• Dec 18: Barbz Gets a Letter
  
• Dec 09: Anonymous 2.0

Riverside Ordinance Prevents Picketing

In spite of massive objections from Scientology critics, including a full blown letter from Graham Berry, Riverside County supervisors Tuesday unanimously approved an ordinance that restricts picketing outside homes and a Church of Scientology base near Hemet.

The funny thing in this is that it is worded in such a way as to effectively prevent picketing at all.

Indeed, the protesters are supposed to remain at least 50 feet from the property line of any residence they are targeting in unincorporated Riverside County. This would in concrete term exclude them from the whole compound.

The ordinance makes an exception to permit protesters on a sidewalk across the street from the property.

In the case of Gold, the street in question may in fact be a large and busy highway, mostly made of intraversible terrain, making any protest totally ineffective, not to say dangerous.

But that's not all!

The church's base in Gilman Hot Springs abuts both sides of Gilman Springs Road!

So this leaves the protesters no place to go!

Wait! It even gets funnier.

County Counsel Pamela Walls assured protesters would have many options, but when asked to indicate them on a map, she said that she was not familiar with the specific property!

I think this is hilarious!

There is hope for critics, however. Indeed, Walls said "We are going to make sure they have the ability to protest and do so visibly".

So, this is what I would do if I was one of these Anonymous clowns. I would go in full picket gear to Walls' office, or whoever is in charge, and ask where I could protest and do so visibly. If she can't tell, then I would picket the Chief Supervisor office instead. Providing he does not live there, of course!

County ordinance raises questions about Scientology

Update Jan 8: What the article above does not say, is that a public hearing must be held before the measure can be formally added to the books. The hearing would be placed on the board's calendar in the next two or three weeks. Guess we will be hearing of that story more then...


Related blog entries:

• Jan 17: Is Close-in Pictures of Passer-By Legal?
  
• Jan 14: The Riverside County Ordinance Farce Continues
  
• Jan 13: Riverside Ordinance - New Information
  
• Jan 06: Riverside Ordinance Prevents Picketing
  
• Dec 18: Barbz Gets a Letter
  
• Dec 09: Anonymous 2.0

Henson Files an Appeal

EFF reports that Keith Henson has filed an appeal to the Appellate Division of the Riverside County Superior Court of his criminal conviction in 2001.

The article is riff with bias and myths, like the one that the reason he was convicted was for "picketing in front of a Scientology "base"". It also seems to be inaccurate when it states that "Henson sought, and temporarily obtained, political asylum in Canada right after the verdict, then was arrested upon his return to the US in 2007" as it forgets to mention that the reason he returned to the States was precisely because his asylum request was eventually denied.

We'll probably see more Henson myths coming up in a near future.

Raids in France

An as yet unconfirmed news reports two raids (real ones, not Anonymous so-called raids) in France on December 16.

One in the Church of Scientology itself, the other in its Celebrity Center.

Angry Gay Pope and Jeff Jacobsen Forced Down the Tube

YouTube banned Angry Gay Pope (AGP) after he apparently violated YouTube's terms of service three times in less than six months. At the same time, Jeff Jacobsen received the first of three warnings as well, and has been forced to pull down one of his videos.

Critics don't explicitely say the reason (maybe they don't precisely know it either) but it may have something to do with restraining orders.

Indeed, AGP writes in the post quoted above:

Although the videos are just conversations the cult has a restraining order against me over the incidents. That means they qualify as "harassment" by legal standards and that violates YouTube's terms of service.

What AGP qualifies as "just conversations", is, I believe, the video about which I blogged about back in July 7, and which I already qualified as "harassment and stalking" at the time. It seems like the courts agreed with that assessment later on. It may be that since the video has been considered as proof enough to justify a restraining order (and this is far from being the only "peaceful-protests-just-conversation" AGP did, as I blogged about on Nov 30), it is now illegal to post it on YouTube.

Jacobsen's video may fall under the same reason, though I fail to see how it qualifies either as Moxon being "dissed", as Jeff claims (on the contrary I think Moxon is coming out good), or as something illegal. They do speak about "restraining order" in that video, though, which makes me think it may have something to do with a reason similar as the one AGP talk about above.

Diskeeper Story Picked Up by The Register

The register now picked up the Diskeeper story, previously reported on Slashdot.

Check also the two interesting legal analysis by would-be lawyers Tikk and henri, taken from the Diskeeper discussion thread in ARS.

Take into account, though, that the two are prominent anti-Scientologists, justifying arbitrary bans on their supposedly "free speech" pet IRC channel which they share with Dave Touretzky, and thus make room for massive bias and misinterpretations.

Diskeeper Suit on Slashdot

Slashdot picked up on Touretzky's article about two ex-employees suing Diskeeper (a company run by Scientologists) after being fired, alleging that the company makes Scientology training a mandatory condition of employment.

Diskeeper's surprising response to the lawsuit appears to be that religious instruction in a place of employment is protected by the First Amendment. The blogger at RealityBasedCommunity.net believes that the legal mechanism that Diskeeper is using to advance this argument is inappropriate and will be disallowed, but that the company will eventually be permitted to present its novel legal theory.

Reed Slatkin Ponzi Among Largest in History

Reed Slatkin mentioned among "Largest Ponzi schemes in history" by Associated Press:

Reed Slatkin, co-founder of Earthlink Inc. and once a Scientology minister, was sentenced in 2003 to 14 years in prison for swindling investors out of about $240 million over 15 years. Groups affiliated with the Church of Scientology agreed to return millions received from his scheme.

Note however that on the whole page, the "groups affiliated with the Church of Scientology" are the only ones who agreed to return millions received from Slatkin scam.

I don't have the details in all this story but usually most people in a pyramid scam, even relatively high up, are victims rather than perpetrators. Maybe naive or greedy but victim nevertheless. However, I never heard of anyone agreeing to return money gained in such a scheme once it was discovered to be a scam.


Related blog entries: R-Slatkin-

Bomb Threats Against the Church of Scientology

Bomb threats against the Church of Scientology, claiming to be detonated "on New Years Day at 12:01am GMT", are being made in the comments section of the anti-Anonymous blog of the pseudo Tom Newton, as reported on http://anonymous-is-a-hategroup.blogspot.com/2008/12/bombs-are-plantedthe-cult-dies-on-new.html

PS - Cut your volume as you visit this page because its author has the disgracious habit of automatically sounding off loud videos or other audio attacks as you open the page.

Xenu About to Taze People

Interesting email sent to the whole Dianetics group on MSN and also posted in the group forums.

The mail makes a parallel between the Godeka incident in 1996, in which a mad man shot and wounded four people in a Scientology church, and the recent Majorski episode where the guards shot Epic Sword Guy before he had time to harm anyone.

The writer also suggests that instead of fire arms (or in addition to them), guards protecting Scientology buildings should carry and use first tazers (stun guns).

Surely, this would contribute to make Scientology even more science-fiction like, but not in a bad way this time.

Anonymous 2.0

Two interesting articles articles about the Riverside County proposed anti-picketing ordinance today:

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/riverside/20081209-1500-picketing.html
and
http://www.mydesert.com/article/20081209/NEWS01/81209003/1006/news01

They discuss the pro- and con- for such an ordinance.

I am not going to enter into that specific issue here, but there is a side issue I found of interest:

"The supervisor showed photographs and literature that members of Anonymous allegedly published, some of which depicted children pointing guns at their own heads and wearing explosives. [...] Passages from one leaflet advocated a return to segregation and attacks on Scientologists – as well as Christians and Jews. "

I have not seen the pamphlets, and I guess, if they are not actual pamphlets distributed by Anonymous in the CoS neighborhood, they may be excerpts from Encyclopedia Dramatica.

Anons apparently are not claiming that these are forgeries made by the CoS (at least I don't see this in these articles), but that they are not the same group as those who made those pamphlets, and that they have never seen these.

In a movement where everybody is... the same... anonymous... how are you going to tell them apart?

It has always been very convenient for Anonymous to claim that bad things done in their name was not them, whereas good things are them.

Nowadays they seem to come up with a variation of this, that anons who now protest Scientology are not the same as those who started the protest, or at least, that they now evolved to something more respectable.

There are also signs of power struggle within Anonymous itself, best illustrated by the fact that the DDOS attacks on both enturbulation and WhyWeProtest were not blamed on the CoS but on Anonymous factions that were now against the protests as they consider the whole anti-Scientology Anonymous movement to have derailed the original meaning of Anonymous. Or something along this line. Go figure...

So is there really an Anonymous 2.0, fundamentally different than the one who started the movement?

Obviously, some of the original Anonymous took their "Mission" at heart, and maybe moved away from the pranksters they may have been at one time. Others joined the movement later, without having been ever part of the original Anonymous.

Still, there is no a clear-cut differentiation, and the fact that The Thunderdome, that existed inside enturbulation.org, still seems to exist in their new forum at WhyWeProtest, is also a sign of the pervading influence of the initial Anonymous philosophy.

The pages on Scientology on Encyclopedia Dramatica, more representative of Anonymous 1.0 than Anonymous 2.0, are also basically the same as those on WhyWeProtest or other Anonymous sites.

So, I really am not sure that there is a fundamental difference.

Anonymous 2.0 may be more concerned with ethic, but they have become more like stratefied Old Guards, all the while having lost some of the revolutionary aspects that appeals to young people, like the systematic questioning of every established concepts.

As for the original Anonymous, it seems that they have taken some distance with the anti-Scientology protest, as is rather evident through the crashed protest statistics, and through the fact that they apparently DDOSed their former venues: enturbulation.org and WhyWeProtest.

I believe that one of the reasons for this is the fact that young idealist that formed the core of Anonymous were disappointed by the way Anonymous lived its own ideals, free speech among others. Another reason, I think, is that they may have become aware that the whole anti-Scientology issue was a bloated one. Not that there is nothing to criticize about the CoS, but it just does not warrant the cultish zeal some anti-Scientologists invest in it, and less even to abandon their Warlord games and hintai that provide them with more lulz. A third reason, I believe, is that the CoS did not crumble after the first few protests. In fact, in a way, the CoS became stronger, precisely because it withstood such a massive frontal attack.

From the start I claimed that the weakness of Anonymous was to basically just mindlessly repeat the partial and vindicative claims to be found on the OG web sites. Anonymous certainly brought about many original aspects in the form (the masks, the lulz, etc) but unfortunately they virtually brought nothing new in content. The one thing that may have seen new (the we-don't-attack-belief bit) was in fact not that new and, what is more, something they could not live up to either.

For it to be really Anonymous 2.0 rather than Anonymous 1.1, I would say it needs to deeply question some of its own assumptions, as well as some of its own actions, and reform itself to the point of going to protest masked when they see discrimination against Scientologists (such as in Germany), as well as to protest against the CoS.

When this happens, we may speak of a new generation of protesters, going further than the original movement, and bringing an aspect OGs failed to bring about.

Otherwise, there would be no real difference between whatever version of Anonymous and between Anonymous and OGs, apart from superficial ones. It would basically remain the same-old-same-old, increasingly seen by better informed observers as a misguided angry mob who that needs to be kept at a safe distance from unpopular minorities and citizen's residences.

Two Frivolous Law Suits

Two frivolous law suits have made the news recently.

1. The first one, filed on July 15, 2008, is by former Scientologist Peter Letterese who alleges that Scientology was operating like a "syndicate" and that David Miscavige is "aided and abetted by the actions of Tom Cruise". The suit is so ridiculous that even critics admit that it is likely to be dismissed by the court before any defendant even responds. Because Tom Cruise has been named in the suit, however, the news led to several articles.
   
   
2. The second one, filed on July 18, 2008, is by one Jonathan Elliott who basically claims that his talent agency failed because Scientology owns the entire entertainment industry!

Even paranoid Lerma admits the two suits are so silly that they are in fact Scientology fronts to make critics look bad - yeaaaah, Right! As if kooks and opportunists could not be just kooks and opportunists - they really have to be Scientology front!

Anonymous Guilty of False Terrorist Threat

Anonymous cheniganism does not always go unpunished: Student Guilty Of Making False Terrorist Threat