THE NARCONON SCIENTOLOGY CONNECTION PERFECTLY EXPLAINED

– Scientology is made up of many different entities, all of which are tightly controlled by its “Sea Organization,” with David Miscavige at the top. When it’s convenient, the church says that Miscavige’s only role is to be the “ecclesiastical” leader of church scripture as the chairman of the board of the Religious Technology Center. But in actual fact, his former top lieutenants say, from that perch he maintains a tight grip on the rest of Scientology’s alphabet soup of organizations. One of them is the Association for Better Living and Education (ABLE) which is staffed completely by Sea Org executives. ABLE, in turn, provides licensing and oversight to various front groups, including Narconon International, which in turn licenses and oversees individual Narconon rehab centers. When Miscavige is boasting about the Narconon network at large church events, there’s no question that it’s a Scientology operation. But when Narconon centers run into controversy, they claim to be independent operators separate from the church.

– Documents in the Desmond case, however, show that Narconon Georgia executive director Mary Rieser was reporting directly not only to Narconon International but also Scientology’s intelligence and covert operations wing, the Office of Special Affairs, which would naturally step in after a legal scare like the death of a patient. Also, a document recently released showed that Rieser also had to put up with meddling from the local Scientology church. So, while the mainstream media is often snowed by Narconon’s claims not to be part of the church, the ties have been obvious for decades. In fact, as Catton confirmed to us, patients at Narconon don’t receive drug counseling at all, but instead get the same basic Scientology training that new church members receive.

– Most parents who send their drug-addicted kids to Narconon centers have no idea of the connection to Scientology. Narconon in fact goes out of its way to camouflage the connection with generic-looking websites and referrers who are paid bounties for bringing in new patients. The parents of Patrick Desmond were like so many others who just wanted to find a safe place to put their son, Patrick, a veteran who was having problems with alcohol. Patrick had been sentenced by a Florida drug court to an in-patient, residential drug rehab center, and the Desmonds were assured by Narconon Georgia that they ran such a facility.

– In fact, Narconon Georia had never received a state license to run an in-patient facility, so, court documents showed, executive director Mary Rieser simply lied about that to the Florida drug court. Testimony in the case showed that Rieser instructed an employee to remove the word “outpatient” from Narconon Georgia letterhead so they could deceive the Florida drug court and other patients that they had a license to run housing.

– Since they didn’t have a license to run their own dormitories, Narconon Georgia instead recruited a Scientologist couple from the local church, Don and Maria Delgado, to lease some apartments at a complex called One Sovereign Place. Patients were housed there, four to an apartment, at an enormous profit. Narconon International — the organization that was supposed to be keeping an eye on Mary Rieser’s facility, in fact did investigate the housing and found that it was out of control, with patients and employees using drugs.

– It was in that environment that Patrick Desmond drank heavily, then went for a drive from the apartments and tried heroin for the first time. It killed him.

– The Desmond family’s attorneys fought hard to get documents out of Narconon, which, true to the Scientology playbook, relied on delaying tactics and held back information (which backfired on them in spectacular fashion). Eventually they did turn over information, which made it obvious that fooling state regulators was part of the business plan. Georgia investigators had, in fact, tried multiple times to show that Narconon Georgia was in flagrant violation of its license, and now, the state finally is serious about it. State regulators announced their intention to cancel the facility’s license and shut it down. Narconon appealed, and it’s open in the meantime. But now a criminal investigation has also been opened as documents surfaced showing that United Health Care was being billed for hundreds of thousands of dollars in care that didn’t happen — and that’s just in the case of a single patient.

We’re really looking forward to coverage by Atlanta’s local media, which has been so dogged covering this controversy. Look for Pete Combs at WSB radio, Jodie Fleischer at WSB TV, and Christian Boone at the Atlanta Journal Constitution to swamp these developments with coverage in the coming days.

—————

Posted by Tony Ortega on February 8, 2013 at 21:30

This is part of a larger Narconon article http://tonyortega.org/2013/02/08/scientology-buys-its-way-out-of-courtroom-nightmare-in-drug-rehab-death/

How Scientology ensnares celebrities

In an exclusive from her new book, the niece of the church's leader explains the secrets of the Celebrity Centre

BY JENNA MISCAVIGE HILL

 
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TOPICS: SCIENTOLOGY, CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY, BOOKS, TOM CRUISE, NICOLE KIDMAN, JOHN TRAVOLTA, EDITOR'S PICKS, LIFE NEWS

Excerpted from "Beyond Belief: My Secret Life Inside Scientology and My Harrowing Escape" 

In comparison to other Scientology churches, things for all the celebrities at the Los Angeles Celebrity Centre were over-the-top in terms of elegance and privacy, starting with their own separate double-gated entrance on the corner of Franklin and Bronson Avenues, and a special area in the underground parking garage that was monitored by security. Celebrities entered through the President’s Office, which had its own lobby, Purif delivery area, and private office space. Upstairs were two auditing rooms and a private course room to be used solely by celebrities and other people of importance, such as big donors to the Church.

Scientology defined celebrities as anyone influential, so it could be well-recognized names like Tom Cruise and John Travolta, but it could also be someone like Craig Jensen, CEO of Condusiv Technologies, and Scientology’s biggest donor, or Izzy Chait, a prominent Beverly Hills art dealer. The security for the celebrities was very tight but deliberately inconspicuous, so that a big celebrity could literally be on services and most people at the Centre would never know he was there.

The Celebrity Centre also had guest rooms. They weren’t special rooms designed just for celebrities. Any of the paying public could reserve any room as long as they were able to afford it; some rooms commanded a hefty overnight rate. It all depended on the size and level of elegance of the room, but the prices were in line with upscale hotels in the city. Back when my mom had been working on the renovations of the Celebrity Centre, I’d even stayed at the hotel a couple of times. The room we stayed in was a duplex, and was super nice. I was told that Kirstie Alley had actually stayed in that particular room. When my boyfriend Dallas was working there, Kirstie was the only celebrity he knew who would stay overnight. The others would just come for the day for their services, then go home.

As Dallas explained, the celebrities who would come to the center were very human there. Some were quite nice and social; others were more reserved and didn’t want to be bothered. And, of course, some sucked up to other celebrities and were rude to the staff who worked there. All in all, it was a mixed bag of attitudes — as varied as the celebrities who frequented it. According to Dallas, John Travolta, at least, was very appreciative of Sea Org — the inner core and devoted order of the Scientology parish – staff members at the center and their hard work. On one occasion, he met Travolta, who praised him for his service.

Hearing all this, it was hard not to be curious about the most famous celebrity Scientologist of them all, Tom Cruise. Dallas told me how, during the time he worked at the Celebrity Centre, Tom was not coming there. Tom was still a Scientologist; he just wasn’t actively involved at that time. Dallas was told by members of the CC staff that because of Tom’s marriage to Nicole Kidman, who was not as committed to the Church, Tom had been labeled a “Potential Trouble Source,” which had interfered with his progress in Scientology.

Because Nicole’s father was in the psychology field, this made perfect sense. We were taught that those in the mental health field were bad and evil. We believed what L. Ron Hubbard had written about them was true, that they were the reason behind people like Adolf Hitler and everything else bad that had ever happened on the “whole track,” the whole record in our minds of things that had happened to us over trillions of years.

When Dallas told me all this, it reminded me of something Aunt Shelly had once said when I was at Flag. At the time, Tom Cruise had just been getting back into the Church, and it was being mentioned in magazines. I said something to Aunt Shelly about it, and she proceeded to go on about how similar Tom Cruise and Uncle Dave — that is, Church of Scientology leader David Miscavige — were, in that they were both very intense. Apparently, people called them by the same nickname, which had something to do with the word “laser.” I told Aunt Shelly how it seemed to me that Nicole wasn’t really into Scientology, and she seemed surprised that I had figured that out, saying I was exactly right and it was a problem they were trying to solve.

No matter what level of star they were, one of the big draws for the celebrities was the Communication Course offered at the center, which claimed to get people comfortable for auditions and helped them to network effectively. Another attraction was the fact that the auditing sessions had a priest-penitent privilege stamp of secrecy, meaning that the contents of each session were guarded, similar to the way that a priest would guard secrets heard during confession. This level of security made celebrities comfortable with relating their problems and the oddities that they wanted fixed.

While the facilities and the hospitality that celebrities received at the Celebrity Centre went far beyond that which regular public Scientologists encountered, the differences weren’t just superficial. There were also numerous financial and course-related benefits that celebrities received. Money and the art of selling Scientology were crucial differences that the ordinary public Scientologist experienced compared to celebrities. For one thing, celebrities didn’t have to endure the constant “regging,” the harassment from the Church to give money for projects or further services. They were still asked to give donations and pay for next services, but they dealt with one designated person, instead of being solicited by various staff members, like the normal public Scientologists were. In addition, celebrities were allowed to do Scientology at their own pace, whereas everyone else would begin that way but soon get pressured and pushed constantly for the next level, which meant they’d also have to pay more money.

For other Scientologists, these requests for money weren’t limited to course work. Dallas’s parents, for example, were always pressured to give money and sign up for more courses, even if they’d already paid for their next three courses. This sort of thing was never allowed with celebrities. Similarly, when Scientologists would travel to San Diego to fund-raise for the church projects, they would often go to Dallas’s parents’ house late at night to try to get his parents to donate. Not surprisingly, that kind of house call would never happen to a celebrity.

The end result of all this was that the celebrity experience of Scientology was vastly different from what most Scientologists experienced. It was never entirely clear whether the celebrities knew the full extent of their special treatment, or if they had any idea what life was actually like for the Sea Org members who waited on them hand and foot.

In many ways, the Celebrity Centre was the perfect stage for the act that Scientology put on for the celebrities. The accommodations were gorgeous, and the beautiful grounds made the experience enjoyable. Everything was tightly controlled and orchestrated, and if the celebrities themselves took things at face value, they’d simply see the act and never witness what went on behind the curtain. There was never a risk that they would get exposed to child labor or something similar that the Church didn’t want them to see. Sea Org members at the Celebrity Centre appeared happy because it was their job to do that, so celebrities wouldn’t know from talking to them or watching them whether they’d been paid their forty-five dollars that week, or if they missed their families.

This act of the Celebrity Centre was crucial to how the Church reached out to celebrities and encouraged them to join. Simply put, it operated almost identically to any other Church where people take courses and get auditing, but it focused on the famous. You didn’t have to be famous to go there, but they targeted up-and-coming artists or forgotten artists trying to rebuild their careers. There were numerous policies about celebrities that explained how celebrities are good PR for the Church since their wins will be in the public eye.

In the end, all this amounts to one of the most powerful recruiting tools that the Church has, offering celebrities a chance to mingle with other like-minded Scientologists and enjoy their time in Scientology outside public scrutiny. In that way, it plays to many celebrities’ sense of entitlement and selectivity. To that end, even non-Scientologists find themselves there on occasion. When my mom was originally working on the Celebrity Centre, she saw Brad Pitt there because he was dating Juliette Lewis. On other occasions, I heard stories of people like Bono and Colin Farrell attending galas there despite not being Scientologists themselves.

Excerpted from “Beyond Belief: My Secret Life Inside Scientology and My Harrowing Escape” by Jenna Miscavige Hill with Lisa Pulitzer, published by William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins. Copyright 2013. Reprinted with permission of the publisher.

Are Apple and the Church of Scientology One and the Same?

Louis Bedigian, Benzinga Staff Writer

February 04, 2013 11:49 AM

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Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL [FREE Stock Trend Analysis]) has earned millions of loyal fans by building impressive, shiny, aluminum-covered products that consumers are eager to buy. They happily wait in line to acquire them, even if they aren't significantly upgraded.

"I wouldn't give a s*** if it didn't have nothing," one customer told Benzinga last year while waiting in line to purchase the iPhone 5. "I would be in line anyway. I just love iPhones. I would never have any other phone but an iPhone for the rest of my life. So when they have iPhone 83, I will be in line."

Apple could not buy that kind of loyalty, but it was able to cultivate it over a several year period, thus producing the cult following it has today.

In a seemingly unrelated story, the Church of Scientology has been repeatedly accused of being a dangerous cult. Loyal scientologists have repeatedly denied the label.

However, when the church decided to produce a commercial for release last fall (and now during the Super Bowl in some markets), the organization was inspired by an unlikely source: Apple.

The ad -- which has garnered roughly 89,000 views on YouTube -- opens with a series of academic-related visuals and a lengthy statement:

"To the curious, the inquisitive, the seekers of knowledge. To the ones who just wanna know about life, about the universe, about yourself. Not cute questions -- big questions, the ones that matter -- to the rebels, the artists, the free-thinkers and innovators, who care less about labels and more about truth, who believe non-conformity is more than a bumper sticker, that knowledge is more than words on a page. You're young, you're old, you're powerful beyond measure and the fuel of that power is not magic or mysticism, but knowledge -- the things you see, the things you feel, and the things you know to be true. Sure, some will doubt you. Let 'em. Dare to think for yourself, to look for yourself, to make up your own mind. 'Cause in the debate for answers, the one thing that's true is what's true for you."

That commercial is similar to the format Apple used to promote its "Think Different" campaign several years ago. Apple's ad featured its own statement designed to appeal to its followers and lure others to the firm:

"Here's to the crazy ones -- the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They're not fond of rules and they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can't do is ignore them because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do."

To be fair, the Church of Scientology is not the first organization inspired by the Mac maker. Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) attempted to capture Apple's magic when it produced its first commercial. The resulting message did not make much sense:

"Chairs. Chairs are made so that people can sit down and take a break. Anyone can sit on a chair, and if the chair is large enough they can sit down together and tell jokes or make up stories or just listen."

Five months later, people are still trying to figure out what Facebook meant.

Follow me @LouisBedigianBZ

Read more: http://www.benzinga.com/news/13/02/3301178/are-apple-and-the-church-of-scientology-one-and-the-same#ixzz2KQj5Pvo3