The Stirrer

The use of the word smokin'!!! is cause for offence in itself.

I have to be careful what I say here, since the representative from Church of Scientology has contacted me in my official capacity as a Councillor and there is a degree of confidentiality in our correspondence.

The only response I had relating to Pitmaston was the verbal response - which I reported above. I have spoken to the representative from the Church of Scientology since on other matters. I hope people will respect that these were private conversations which I am not allowed to divulge, since I could be in breach of the members Code of Conduct.

Please forgive me, if readers expect me to stand on one side or other of this argument. Even through, I am posting on this messageboard as a private citizen, there is an expectation, again by the members Code of Conduct, that I am seen to be fair to both sides of this debate.

Was forwarded a FOI request today after it's fluttered it's way down from Chief Execs.
The Sunday Times have requested details of all communications between BCC Council Officers and Councillors and the Church of Scientology since October 1st 2006, to include all memo's and documents, meetings and minutes, internal memo's, analyses and other documents concerning them and their subsidiaries.
Interesting.

Has anyone noticed that the newsletters state that they are a non-profit in Australia.

That would entirely depend on whether or not he was a private citizen or a Councillor.

I doubt very much that even the The Sunday Times has the stamina to tease out that logical absurdity.

This may be unrelated, but apparently 2006 was when the CoS was trying to buy another major property, the Lloyds building. I've also read that the CoS has a rent/tax-related deal with the City going back at least that far.

Journalists interested in any aspect of the cult's involvement in Birmingham in recent years should get in touch with John Duignan. He was a high-ranking Scientologist seconded to Brum to do PR and 'community outreach'. He escaped (his words) from the cult in Birmingham in 2006. He knew a lot about what was going on, and recently published a book about his 22 years 'in' called 'The Complex: An insider exposes the covert world of the Church of Scientology', the penultimate chapter of which covers his time in Brum.

The publication of the book itself is another story. It's not available in the UK due to an allegedly spurious libel claim (see a recent Guardian article here on the attempt to block it, and the cult's history of similar activities).

Anyway, I'm sure he could be contacted via Merlin Publishing in Ireland.

If you're interested in the book, best bet is to order it from Ireland, e.g. from the bookseller Eason's, although it's just come into stock at Amazon in the States as well now.

Yes. As I understand it, due to a reciprocal agreement between the UK and Australia its status there gives it tax breaks here.

However, the CoS is classed as non-profit in the UK anyway, at least by HM Revenue & Customs (for example see the Daily Telegraph story here, from late 2006). As well as being VAT-exempt, they also tend to enjoy concessions from City Councils and the like...

The CoS has still been denied charitable status by the Charities Commission as (quote) "public benefit arising out of the practice of Scientology and/or the purposes of CoS had not been established". If you want, you can read the whole thing at:

http://www.charity-commission.gov.uk/Li ... ulldoc.pdf

Why did the CoS go cap in hand to Moseley C of E Primary School for help with its "interesting" land deal?

Quoting the school's newsletter to parents from May this year:

It looks like she discussed it with a hell of a lot more people than I would have bothered to.

I'm getting very concerned about all of this. It's all adding up, with the clearing our alleyways of drug addicts and now offering to educate children. What else are they going to try and do to worm their way into our community?

People should be very vigilant that they don't give them any sense that they are "needed" by us.

Martin Mullaney seems to have contributed an interview about Pitmaston to a documentary project entitled "Anonymous V Scientology".

I say seems because at the moment the website's not much more than a stills gallery. Regardless, I'm pleased to see it and I hope the final form will get some publicity for the Pitmaston story.

I'd better stress that I don't know the film maker and I'm not vouching for either him or the documentary. I have no idea what plans there might be to broadcast it, if any, or who's funding the thing - it appears that he's put off other work to do this. Furthermore, while the pictures look great I don't necessarily agree with everything he's written on the site. Maybe Martin can say something more useful here since he's obviously spoken to him.

All that aside, while the focus of the project appears to be the protests the film maker states on the website that he'd like to hear from people by email (documentary@everlastingpictures.co.uk). So if you have a story or something to say this could be a good opportunity to get your voice heard.

Last week the CoS invited followers to attend an event at their Ethel St premises to:

http://img159.imageshack.us/img159/6287/meeting2819go9.png

This is the local implementation of a UK-wide PR campaign. The aim is for activists to distribute and promote their booklet "The Way to Happiness", in fact to:


http://img50.imageshack.us/img50/3686/calmgz5.png
(Note the premium rate helpline. "I/C" means a Scientologist who is "In Charge" of the programme or project.)

The Way to Happiness is a booklet written by L. Ron Hubbard, convicted fraudster and founder of Scientology, although you won't find any mention of the latter two facts in it. Instead, it consists of 21 precepts or moral rules based, it is claimed, on secular common sense. "Be worthy of trust", "Do not steal" and "Don't do anything illegal" are pertinent examples...

While the UK campaign itself has every appearance of being hyperbole, and the meeting was probably little more than an excuse to raise money from those who attended, the Church probably will make efforts locally to carry it out. So please be aware that any involvement in "The Way to Happiness" activities is likely to be used for PR purposes to benefit Scientology, much like the Drug Free Marshals featured in the Ideal Org newsletter posted here a few weeks back.

This is, arguably, the purpose of the exercise. Schools and other organisations have been known to endorse TWTH and other 'front' operations without knowing of the Scientology link until it was too late, or at all:

• Scientology affiliate The Way To Happiness of Glendale teaches honesty in schools but, according to LAPD and others, utilizes dishonest promotions (Pasadena Weekly, 20th August 2005)
• Revealed: how Scientologists infiltrated Britain's schools (Sunday Times, 7th January 2007)
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Way_to_Happiness - decent listing

By way of balance, here's the other side:

UK The Way to Happiness Website:
http://www.twth.org.uk

Ron the Humanitarian, and a list of the precepts:
http://humanitarian.lronhubbard.org/human/precepts.htm

Birmingham CoS website:
http://www.scientology-birmingham.org

I think the chattering classes must wrap themselves up in knots with regard to the Islamic treatment of women - on the one hand Islam is a foreign, alien religion so automatically engenders their support, but on the other it turns women into slaves. What to do, eh?

ApG

This might be of interest. A planning application's under consultation for:


This is application number S/00128/09/FUL, from property developer Kingerlee Homes Ltd. The consultation period runs out on 18.03.09. See the planning portal at http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/GenerateContent?CONTENT_ITEM_ID=67548&CONTENT_ITEM_TYPE=0&MENU_ID=12189

(EDIT) There is also another application, S/00342/09/LBC, regarding "Listed Building Consent for conversion and alteration to form residential units and demolition of outbuildings."

Credit where credit's due, I saw this on another forum: http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?p=32092724#post32092724 (post #184)

Hi.

I've recently read a very long thread on here about the Scientology groups purchase of Pitmaston House. I wondered if there was any further update on this, or any new opinions on the subject?

Original thread- but transferred to this thread by Das Vebmunster

You've actually linked to the same thread you've posted on. I don't think there is another Scientology thread so it doesn't really matter.

The only development I've come across is Radio 5 ringing me up after also reading this thread. I couldn't really help them but it livened up an otherwise dull afternoon.

Is there anything in particular you want to know? And after reading the thread, what do you think?

The two planning applications submitted by Kingerlee Homes Ltd have been rejected, so there'll be no new dwellings, car parks or landscaping on their part of the estate just yet.

Details are available from Planning Online: see S/00128/09/FUL and S/00342/09/LBC.

Not surprised. It was a poor planning application, for which I put in an objection. I guess the developers were trying to see how high they could fly their kite.