St. Petersburg Times: Rinder, Rathbun, and more speak out

[moontaco]

http://www.tampabay.com/news/article1012148.ece

(EDIT: LINK TO ALL COVERAGE, INCLUDING STORIES AND VIDEOS)

I haven't finished reading. Here's the beginning. It's the first of three parts! And there are sidebars, too.

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 church. But the leader trashed their every idea and berated them as incompetents and enemies, of him and the church.

Prove your devotion, Miscavige told them, by winning at musical chairs. Everyone else — losers, all of you — will be banished to Scientology outposts around the world. If families are split up, too bad.

To the music of Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody they played through the night, parading around a conference room in their Navy-style uniforms, grown men and women wrestling over chairs.

The next evening, early in 2004, Miscavige gathered the group and out of nowhere slapped a manager named Tom De Vocht, threw him to the ground and delivered more blows. De Vocht took the beating and the humiliation in silence — the way other executives always took the leader's attacks.

This account comes from executives who for decades were key figures in Scientology's powerful inner circle. Marty Rathbun and Mike Rinder, the highest-ranking executives to leave the church, are speaking out for the first time.

Two other former executives who defected also agreed to interviews with the St. Petersburg Times: De Vocht, who for years oversaw the church's spiritual headquarters in Clearwater, and Amy Scobee, who helped create Scientology's celebrity network, which caters to the likes of John Travolta and Tom Cruise.

One by one, the four defectors walked away from the only life they knew. That Rathbun and Rinder are speaking out is a stunning reversal because they were among Miscavige's closest associates, Haldeman and Ehrlichman to his Nixon.

Now they provide an unprecedented look inside the upper reaches of the tightly controlled organization. They reveal:

• Physical violence permeated Scientology's international management team. Miscavige set the tone, routinely attacking his lieutenants. Rinder says the leader attacked him some 50 times.

Rathbun, Rinder and De Vocht admit that they, too, attacked their colleagues, to demonstrate loyalty to Miscavige and prove their mettle.

• Staffers are disciplined and controlled by a multilayered system of "ecclesiastical justice.'' It includes publicly confessing sins and crimes to a group of peers, being ordered to jump into a pool fully clothed, facing embarrassing "security checks'' or, worse, being isolated as a "suppressive person.''

At the pinnacle of the hierarchy, Miscavige commands such power that managers follow his orders, however bizarre, with lemming-like obedience.

• Church staffers covered up how they botched the care of Lisa McPherson, a Scientologist who died after they held her 17 days in isolation at Clearwater's Fort Harrison Hotel.

Rathbun, who Miscavige put in charge of dealing with the fallout from the case, admits that he ordered the destruction of incriminating evidence. He and others also reveal that Miscavige made an embarrassing miscalculation on McPherson's Scientology counseling.

• With Miscavige calling the shots and Rathbun among those at his side, the church muscled the IRS into granting Scientology tax-exempt status. Offering fresh perspective on one of the church's crowning moments, Rathbun details an extraordinary campaign of public pressure backed by thousands of lawsuits.

• To prop up revenues, Miscavige has turned to long-time parishioners, urging them to buy material that the church markets as must-have, improved sacred scripture.

Church officials deny the accusations. Miscavige never hit a single church staffer, not once, they said.

[blownforgood]

Musical Chairs, beatings, SP Hall and more!

Took them long enough.

Until next time...
BFG
_________________
If you knew what I know
And I am sure you would
You would do what I did
And be BLOWNFORGOOD!

[Sponge]

[Wieber]

Thanks, moontaco. This makes my day.
_________________
Reading List: http://www.worldcat.org./profiles/Wieber/lists/563909 scientology is just another cult. "I feel we could almost fly to Europe on this." Dr. Steve Wiseman http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXxPu40S_3c

[moontaco]

[I'mglib]

Holy sh%t. I wonder if this is the *big thing* everyone has been talking about.

Come on, media, what more do you want?!
_________________
Watch the Los Angeles press conference here:

http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/4716775

Or on Youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/user/ScilonTV#p/

[J. Swift]

This sure looks like the beginning of a big shitstorm to me. I don't know if its the "Big One" though. Too early to tell.

That Miscavige personally tried to stop publication of the story until he could be interviewed can be translated as: I needed more time to Fair Game these people or pay them off.

This is the time for an all hands alert to standby in case a bigger story breaks. Be prepared to come at Scientology from all angles everywhere if this story gets big. For those who were waiting in the darkness, now is your time to come out. For those who are thinking of blowing, get out now!

The Battle of Summer 2009 has begun with this opening volley at COB.

I am waiting to see what OSA and OSA Legal do next now that COB is heading into serious media glare.


/////
_________________


masonicpyramid.com
contact: scienowriter@gmail.com

[Benny's Friend]

Call me a party pooper but so far it's just been a Rinder and Rathbun rehash of BFG's ground breaking exposé.

As I said elsewhere, I'll save my tinglies for when they drop a load of fresh dirt.

(Am I being too cynical?)
_________________
THE MORE WHO SPEAK OUT, THE MORE WHO GET OUT.

[magoo1]

Man what a month!!!!

Here's the video, if it hasn't been posted (I didn't see it):

http://www.tampabay.com/specials/2009/reports/project/

Congratulations to Mike, Marty and St. Pete Times
and
EVERYONE who has helped expose this insidious Cult leader!

My best

Tory/Magoo

[Sponge]

[Benny's Friend]

OK, having just viewed the video I give....9.....meeeeeeellllionnnnn Internets to Amy Scobee for speaking up.

Dayam, girl. Keep it coming!
_________________
THE MORE WHO SPEAK OUT, THE MORE WHO GET OUT.

[magoo1]

I give it to Marty, Mike and Amy AND the St. Pete Times for
Rolling with it!!

GREAT JOB to all who have helped, daily, to expose this insidious CULT.

One more great day in the stripping down of insanities people still believe
are "Truth". This *is* Truth Revealed!! ((And to those who don't know,
OT 8 is called "Truth Revealed")) HA!

A grand day ~~

Tory/Magoo
PS: Thanks Sponge for that, also...and to moontaco for the original post.

[moontaco]

[Benny's Friend]

Thank you, Tory. The Church's official response is both sad and painful.

http://www.tampabay.com/specials/2009/reports/project/church-response.shtml
_________________
THE MORE WHO SPEAK OUT, THE MORE WHO GET OUT.

[Benny's Friend]