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[mefree]

This story is quite interesting because Debbie Cook, former Captain Flag Service Organization, is apparently in "good standing" with CoS. She is not a member of the Indies, Freezone or aligned with critics.

Her email reportedly went to about 12,000 OT Scientologists. The story has been reported on ESMB, OCMB and Marty's blog, WWP and elsewhere.

Message from Debbie Cook

Dear friend,

I am emailing you as a friend and fellow Scientologist. As we enter a new year, it is hoped that 2012 can be a year of great dissemination and a year of real progress up The Bridge for all Scientologists.

Although I am not in the Sea Org right now, I served in the Sea Org at Flag for 29 years. 17 of those years were as Captain FSO. I am a trained auditor and C/S as well as an OEC, FEBC and DSEC.

I am completely dedicated to the technology of Dianetics and Scientology and the works of LRH. I have seen some of the most stunning and miraculous results in the application of LRH technology and I absolutely know it is worth fighting to keep it pure and unadulterated.

My husband and I are in good standing and we are not connected with anyone who is not in good standing. We have steadfastly refused to speak to any media, even though many have contacted us.

But I do have some very serious concerns about out-KSW that I see permeating the Scientology religion.

I have the utmost respect for the thousands of dedicated Scientologists and Sea Org members. Together, we have come through everything this world could throw at us and have some real impingement on the world around us. I am proud of our accomplishments and I know you are too. However there is no question that this new age of continuous fundraising is not our finest moment.

LRH says in HCO PL 9 Jan 51, An Essay on Management, "drop no curtains between the organization and the public about anything.” -LRH

Based on this policy I am communicating to you about some situations that we need to do something about within our religion, within our group.
Actions that are either not covered in policy or directly violate LRH policy and tech include:

The extreme over-regging and fund-raising activities that have become so much a part of nearly every Sea Org org and Class V org as well as every “OT Committee” is not covered anywhere in LRH policy.

Hardworking Sea Org members and the dedicated staff of orgs around the world aren’t choosing to do these actions. Nor are the OTs. I am sure they would be more than happy if they could just get on with direct dissemination of Scientology as they have done for so many years.

But the truth is that this is being driven from the very highest echelons within the Scientology structure and clearly there is a lot of pressure to make targets that are being set.

The IAS: The IAS was created unbeknownst to LRH in 1984 by Marc Yager and David Miscavige. This was supposed to be based on LRH policies on the subject of membership and the HASI, however the IAS is nothing like the membership system described by LRH which only has two memberships and is covered in HCO PL 22 March 1965 "Current Promotion and Org Program Summary, Membership Rundown" and states:

"There are two memberships..."- LRH

LRH lists there the INTERNATIONAL ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP and gives its cost at 10 pounds sterling or $30 US. He also lists a LIFETIME MEMBERSHIP which is priced at $75 US. There are no other memberships or statuses approved or known to LRH. Furthermore, membership monies are supposed to go directly to the org where the membership is signed up, and the money used for dissemination by that org, in that area. This is covered in HCOPL 1 Sept 1965R Membership Policies.
"It all goes into the HCO Book Account in the area where the membership is brought and is not part of the organization's weekly gross income. Membership monies go to dissemination".- LRH

Currently membership monies are held as Int reserves and have grown to well in excess of a billion dollars. Only a tiny fraction has ever been spent, in violation of the policy above. Only the interest earned from the holdings have been used very sparingly to fund projects through grants. In fact many of the activities you see at IAS events are not actually funded by the IAS, but rather by the Scientologists involved.

Think about it, how many ads disseminating Scientology, Dianetics or any Scn affiliated programs have you seen on TV? Heard on the radio? Seen in newspapers? I haven’t seen one in the 4 years I have lived in San Antonio, Texas, the 7th largest city in the US. How many have you seen?

Donating anything more than a lifetime membership to the IAS is not based on LRH policy. The article “What Your Donations Buy” (The Auditor, The Monthly Journal of Scientology No. 51, 1970) is clearly talking about how the church uses your donations for Dianetics and Scientology services. Next time you are asked to donate outside of services, realize that you are engaged in fundraising and ask to see something in writing from L. Ron Hubbard that this is something he expects from you as a Scientologist.

New Org Buildings: LRH also never directed the purchase of opulent buildings or the posh renovations or furnishings for every org.In fact, if you read HCO PL 12 March 75 Issue II, “The Ideal Org”, which is what this program has been called, and nowhere in it will you find 20 million dollar buildings or even any reference to the poshness of org premises at all as part of LRH’s description of an “Ideal Org”. Instead, an Ideal Org was one that delivered and moved people up The Bridge – something that is not part of this “Ideal Org” program.

LRH says in the PL that an Ideal Org: “would be clean and attractive enough not to repel its public” – LRH. This is all it says about the state of the building.

As a result of this off-policy alteration of the Ideal Org PL, we have the majority of top OTs, now deemed “OT Ambassadors”, heavily engaged in fund-raising activities that include “bingo”, “pirate dinners”, “knitting classes”, “hay rides”, and many other activities strictly revolving around raising funds for the required multi-millions of dollars to fund their “Ideal Org”. As part of this, people around every org are now asked to donate to their local “Ideal Org” instead of their own services or their own Bridge.

LRH says in HCO PL Org Ethics and Tech: “GET RID OF DISTRACTIONS FROM SCIENTOLOGY in your org. Baby-sitting or raffle tickets and such nonsense.”
Yet these distractions are rampant as they are being used as fund-raisers to get money for the huge quotas being issued to fund the “Ideal Org”.

"If the org slumps... don't engage in 'fund-raising' or 'selling postcards' or borrowing money.
Just make more income with Scientology.
It's a sign of very poor management to seek extraordinary solutions for finance outside Scientology. It has always failed."
“For orgs as for pcs, 'Solve It With Scientology'.
"Every time I myself have sought to solve financial or personnel in other ways than Scientology I have lost out. So I can tell you from experience that org solvency lies in more Scientology, not patented combs or fund-raising barbeques."
HCO PL 24 February 1964, Issue II, Org Programming, (OEC Vol. 7, p. 930)

The point is that Scientologists and OT's need to be training, auditing and disseminating to raw public- not regging each other or holding internal fundraisers.

Out Tech: Over the last few years we have seen literally hundreds and hundreds of people who were validated as clear using the CCRD as developed by LRH now being told they are not Clear. This included hundreds of OTs who were then put onto NED as a "handling". LRH clearly forbid any Dianetics to be run on OTs in HCOB “Dianetics Forbidden on OTs”. This is out tech. This entire technical “handling” was directed personally by COB RTC and was done on thousands of OTs. But it was based not on an LRH HCO Bulletin, but rather based on a single C/S instruction where LRH C/Sed one pre-OT who had not achieved the state of clear but was mid OT III and not making it. LRH directed a solo handling that the pre-OT was to do to get himself to achieve the state of Clear. This LRH C/S taken out of context was then used to implement a technical handling that was in direct violation of an LRH HCOB.

This and other “technical handlings” done on Solo NOTs auditors created great expense and hardship on Solo NOTs auditors around the world as they were made to do these handlings to continue on the level.

Then there are the “fast grades at Flag” that no other org has. How can it be that Flag has been delivering grades differently to the rest of the world for the last 3 years? Whatever the problem is, the fact is that having “fast Grades” at Flag creates a hidden data line and is a HIGH CRIME and the subject of an entire policy letter called "TECH DEGRADES" which LRH has placed at the start of every Scientology course.

More recently the fad seems to be that nearly everyone needs to “re-do their Purif and do a long objectives program”, including many OTs mid Solo NOTs.
There is nothing wrong with doing objectives, but it is a clear violation of HCOB 'MIXING RUNDOWNS AND REPAIRS" to have a person mid a rundown or OT level be taken off it and placed on an objectives program.

Solo NOTs auditors are also being made to get their objectives from a Class IX auditor at great expense as they are not being allowed to co-audit.

Flag has made many millions of dollars on the above listed out tech handlings because OTs mid Solo NOTs are forced to get these out-tech actions to be able to get back onto and stay on the level and complete it. Not to mention the spiritual effects of the out tech that this has on each OT.

I myself was subject to these out tech “handlings”, including extensive FPRD mid Solo NOTs. It took its toll in many ways, including physical situations I am still dealing with today. So I have some reality of the hardship caused.

LRH Command Structure: LRH left us with a complex and balanced command structure, with our orgs led by the Office of ED International. This office was considered so important that LRH created a special management group called the Watch Dog Committee whose only purpose was to see that this office and the other needed layers of management existed. LRH ED 339R speaks of this extensively as the protection for our Church. But these people are missing. And not just some. As of just a few years ago there were no members of the office of ED Int on post, not to mention top execs throughout the International Management structure.

You may have also wondered… where is Heber, the President of the Church? What about Ray Mitthoff, Senior C/S International, the one that LRH personally turned over the upper OT Levels to? How about Norman Starkey, LRH’s Trustee? What happened to Guillaume – Executive Director International? And Marc Yeager, the WDC Chairman? What happened to the other International Management executives that you have seen at events over the years?

The truth is that I spent weeks working in the empty International Management building at Int. Empty because everyone had been removed from post. When I first went up lines I was briefed extensively by David Miscavige about how bad all of them were and how they had done many things that were all very discreditable. This seemed to “explain” the fact that the entirety of the Watchdog Committee no longer existed.

The entirety of the Executive Strata, which consisted of ED International and 11 other top International executives that were the top executives in their particular fields, no longer existed. That the Commodore’s Messenger Org International no longer existed. All of these key command structures of Scientology International, put there by LRH, had been removed.There were hundreds and hundreds of unanswered letters and requests for help from org staff, written based on LRH ED 339R where LRH says that staff can write to these top executives in the Exec Strata for help. But this is not possible if all these execs have been removed and no one is there to help them or to get evaluations and programming done to expand Scientology.

Well, after that I got to spend some quality time with Heber, Ray Mithoff, Norman Starkey, Guillaume, as well as the entirety of International Management at the time, who were all off post and doing very long and harsh ethics programs. These have gone on for years and to the only result of that they are still off post. There is no denying that these top executives have all gradually disappeared from the scene. You don’t see them at the big events anymore or on the ship at Maiden Voyage.

David Miscavige has now become the “leader” of the Scientology religion. Yet what LRH left behind was a huge structure to properly manage all aspects of the Scientology religion. He put a complete and brilliant organizational structure there, not one individual. There never was supposed to be a “leader” other than LRH himself as the goal maker for our group.

There is a situation here and even if you have not been to the International Management Base you should be able to see that over regging and frequent tech changes are not OK and you have a responsibility to do something to Keep Scientology Working. You should be able to find and read the references on membership in OEC Volume 6. Find and read the HCO PL entitled “The Ideal Org” (Data Series 40). Find and read the references on org buildings, including HCO PL 24 Aug 65 II, Cleanliness of Quarters and Staff, Improve our Image. Also, HCO PL 17 June 69, The Org Image.

If you don’t want to make waves or put yourself in danger of being taken off the level or denied eligibility, then there are some simple things you can do. First and foremost, withdraw your support from off policy actions. Stop donating to anything other than your own services and actual Bridge progress. Simply demand to see an LRH reference that says you are required to make other such donations. No one will be able to produce any references because there aren’t any.

Stop supporting any of the activities that are being done to forward off-policy fund-raising in your area.

LRH says what he expects of a Scientologist – that is what he expects you to do. In fact he put it in HCOB 10 June 1960 Issue I, Keeping Scientology Working Series 33, WHAT WE EXPECT OF A SCIENTOLOGIST. Read it and follow it.

The other thing you can do is to send this email to as many others as you can, even if you do it anonymously.

Please keep this email among us, the Scientologists. The media have no place in this. You may wonder why I have not written a KR and gone about my business. The answer is, I have. But there is no longer anyone to send that KR to.

But you can and should write reports and bring off-policy to the attention of local org executives and local Sea org members.

We are a strong and powerful group and we can affect a change. We have weathered many storms. I am sorry that I am the one telling you, but a new storm is upon us. Its waves are already in the media and the world around us.

The truth is that as a Scientologist you are more able, more perceptive and have a higher integrity. Scientology is supposed to make you “think for yourself” and never compromise your own integrity. And most certainly LRH held every Scientologist responsible to KEEP SCIENTOLOGY WORKING.

I am not trying to do anything other than affect a change in serious off policy actions occurring. My husband and I have most of our family and many many good friends who are Scientologists. I have not been real interested in sticking my neck out like this. However, I also know that I dedicated my entire adult life to supporting LRH and the application of LRH technology and if I ever had to look LRH in the eye I wouldn’t be able to say I did everything I could to Keep Scientology Working if I didn’t do something about it now.

We all have a stake in this. It is simply not possible to read the LRH references and not see the alterations and violations that are currently occurring. You have a very simple obligation to LRH. Don’t participate in anything off policy, and let others know they should not either. If every person who reads this email does nothing more than step back from off-policy actions we would have changed direction. If we took all that energy and directed it into auditing, training and raw public dissemination, we would be winning.
And that is what I wish for you and all of us as we ring in this new year.

ARC,

Debbie Cook

more at:
An email from Debbie Cook to active Scientologists
http://www.forum.exscn.net/showthread.php?25797-An-email-from-Debbie-Cook-to-active-Scientologists

Debbie Cook Speaks 12/31/2011
http://ocmb.xenu.net/ocmb/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=47584

Reformation – Division Within Corporate Scientology
http://markrathbun.wordpress.com/

Village Voice:
Scientology Rocked By Allegations of Greed in E-mail to 12,000 Church Members
http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2012/01/debbie_cook_scientology_rocked_by_allegations_of_greed.php

Tampa Bay Times:
In New Year's message, former Scientology executive blasts 'extreme' fundraising
http://www.tampabay.com/news/scientology/article1208723.ece

What will the Thetans say? Top Scientologist launches rebellion over church leader's 'alterations and violations'
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2081615/What-Thetans-say-Top-Scientologist-launches-rebellion-church-leaders-alterations-violations.html?ITO=1490

Scientologist rallies followers against leader in leaked email
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jan/03/scientologist-email-debbie-cook-miscavige?newsfeed=true

Former Scientology insider blasts church as greedy
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2012/01/prominent-scientology-leader-blasts-church-as-greedy/1?csp=34news

Scientologists in feud over leader
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/8989392/Scientologists-in-feud-over-leader.html

Conflict at the heart of Scientology is exposed in bitter email outburst
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/conflict-at-the-heart-of-scientology-is-exposed-in-bitter-email-outburst-6284546.html

[ethercat]

See my New Year message for the reference - Now even one of the members is cooperating! 

Where's J. Swift with his "Karmic Acceleration" predictions?

[mefree]

Happy New Year 2012
1 January 2012, 4:50 pm
By Just Bill

It has been a considerable time since I posted any significant article.  It isn't that nothing was going on, obviously, but it was, instead, a combination of too much going on for me personally (good things) and things going incredibly well in exposing the crimes, lies, abuse and fraud of the Church of Scientology.

All I could say was "Well done!"

But, here it is, a new year and I had in mind doing a pretty ordinary look back and then make predictions.  It's fun to do.

But there is a new and significant event that just happened which changed my plans for what would probably have been a predictable and boring article.

I am, of course, referring to the Debbie Cook email.

This is significant.  While it is true that Scientologists "in good standing" have been talking with each other about some of the problems and it is true that prominent Scientologists have spoken out after leaving the church, there has never been a prominent Scientologist speaking out while still, technically, "in good standing".

This email went to a lot of well connected Scientologists who have no reason to doubt that Debbie Cook is still in good standing.

Let's take a look at what Debbie says.  She is not attacking Scientology or Hubbard in any way.  She uses the line "The truth is that as a Scientologist you are more able, more perceptive and have a higher integrity" to appeal to the Scientology ego.  While she names David Miscavige, she doesn't personally attack him (i.e. call him "suppressive").  She quotes Hubbard appropriately to make her points.  While lengthy, her email does not get bogged down in too much detail as so many other "doubt formulas" have.  She has done a good job talking to Scientologists in their terms.

I believe this will be effective.  I'm guessing that speaking freely about everything Debbie has brought up will become common within Scientology.  That is all to the good.

I read a concerned comment by someone to the effect that we don't want Scientologists to rebel and reform Scientology as Debbie urges.  We want, the commenter insists, the church to continue to abuse and defraud Scientologists in order to speed up its collapse.

I'd say that this email will greatly speed up the church's collapse.  First, Debbie urges all Scientologists to stop sending any money to the church except for donations for services -- which monies remain (mostly) local.  This cuts off Miscavige's lucrative income from all his bogus fundraising tricks.

But wait!  By pointing out all the "out-tech" now being enforced by the church, she is discouraging Scientologists from actually taking services.

And, finally, by detailing the total destruction of the upper management of the church, Debbie is making it perfectly "legal" to ignore the dictates coming from "management".

If this doesn't cause a majority of the remaining churchies to disassociate from the Church of Scientology, I'll be very surprised.

They may remain True Believers, and they may then be captured by the Independent Movement, but that group is not organized and is not effective.

And remember this:  True Believers must use Scientology and only Scientology for all their endeavors.  They must use the Admin and Ethics "tech".  The built-in flaws in all of that ensure that any future Scientology organization will not succeed.

This certainly is a good way to start a New Year.

Source: Ask the Scientologist

[mefree]

LOL! The OSAbots seem to be struggling in their commenting  on the Tampa Bay Times article. Here is a sample with some replies:

JohnQCitizenMD Jan 1, 2012 5:57 PM
This paper can change its name till the cows come home, as long as they continue to troll scientology and draw from stories 3 decades old they aren't heading in a new direction at all. They're still small town trolls.

grathuln Jan 1, 2012 6:08 PM
@JohnQ 10year old story!? Email sent New Years Eve 2011 by a scientologist currently in good standing, hello how much more contemporary can you get? Such comments show how completely out of touch with reality you are. No doubt the state necessary to carry on supporting the church of scientology. Hang your head in shame sir.

clearwater_beach Jan 1, 2012 6:09 PM
3 decades old story? This email went out LAST night. This is a NEW story. Get a grip JohnQ.

   xenubarb Jan 1, 2012 7:20 PM
    LOL "Cause over MEST"
 
    chuckbeatty77 Jan 1, 2012 7:52 PM
    Don't fret over the 3 decades long Scientologists with their heads stuck cluelessly in the ground for that long. The question is how many faithful Scientologists unfriend Debbie on Facebook, and how many remain her friends. Those who remain her friends will represent a whole new wave of defections from official Scientology! Someone ought tally Debbie's Facebook friends count as the OSA smear handling program goes into effect against her.

   

[Mary_McConnell]

 

[mefree]

Is Scientology Imploding? Watching the Panic After a Former Executive Dares to Question Church Management
Village Voice
By Tony Ortega Tue., Jan. 3 2012 at 8:00 AM

The world of Scientology watching is still reeling after Debbie Cook's New Year's Eve e-mail landed in the inboxes of thousands of church members Saturday night.

A few minutes after midnight, we began receiving copies of the broadside, written by one of Scientology's most important former executives. Citing the words of L. Ron Hubbard, Cook trashed the church's current management under leader David Miscavige, complaining about a "new age of continuous fundraising" and "extreme over-regging."

Over the next couple of days, it was remarkable to watch the reaction of church members who received the e-mail and variously praised it, condemned it, or simply freaked out.

Then, we noticed this statement by Larry Brennan, an ex-Scientologist who helped reorganize the corporate structure of the church in 1980s, and who knows perhaps as much as anyone else about the strength of Scientology to defend itself:

    Organized Scientology was structured to withstand 'attacks' from the outside. But all its corporate veils and religious cloaking are powerless to prevent an implosion, emptying course rooms, and causing a mass exodus.

Implosion? A mass exodus? Can a single e-mail really cause such widespread panic? We asked someone who knew Debbie Cook and could explain to us what her salvo means for an organization on the edge....

more at http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2012/01/is_scientology_imploding.php

[mefree]

Scientology in Crisis: Debbie Cook's Transformation from Enforcer to Whistleblower
By Tony Ortega Wed., Jan. 4 2012 at 8:00 AM

Most of the press reporting on Debbie Cook so far has focused on her past as a high-ranking executive in the Church of Scientology and her sudden transformation this week into a whistleblower trying to rally her fellow church members against the management of Scientology leader David Miscavige.

But several years passed between Cook's role as "Captain FSO" in Clearwater, Florida and where she finds herself today, criticizing Miscavige from San Antonio, Texas, but no longer an employee of the church.

Cook still isn't willing to give us an interview, but we're not waiting to hear from her: the years after she left her nearly legendary role at "Flag" in Clearwater and then went through a humiliating punishment at Scientology's secretive desert headquarters in California in 2007 is a documented part of her story, and helps us understand how she became the lightning rod she is today.

Which makes us ask: has Scientology's homophobia finally brought it to the edge of collapse?
...

more at http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2012/01/debbie_cook_scientology_enforcer_whistleblower_homophobia.php#Comments

[ethercat]

Debbie Cook is getting big attention.

Story about Debbie Cook on Good Morning America

[mefree]

Debbie Cook is getting big attention.

Story about Debbie Cook on Good Morning America

Updated video with story on ABC News at http://abcnews.go.com/US/scientology-official-criticizes-church/story?id=15304739

Indeed. In other important news, the video reveals that Marty quit shaving, LOL!

More articles:

'Money first' claim opens schism in Scientology

Church of Scientology Has Cash Reserve of More Than $1 Billion, Says Former Member

Interesting PR strategy to bring up "squirrels"

[mefree]

In letter, former Scientology leader Debbie Cook renews concerns about church ... - Tampabay.com
6 January 2012, 8:07 pm
By Joe Childs and Thomas C. Tobin, Times Staff Writers
In Print: Saturday, January 7, 2012



Debbie Cook, the high-profile Scientologist who on New Year's Eve launched a surprise effort to reform the Church of Scientology's aggressive fundraising practices, has renewed her call for action but insists she's not picking a fight with the church.

In a letter released to the Tampa Bay Times, Cook again rallies individual Scientologists, calling on them to do their part in restoring the church to the way its founder L. Ron Hubbard wanted it to run.

"This is the responsibility that every Scientologist has," she wrote.

Cook referred to her Dec. 31 email, which urged thousands of Scientologists to stand up against incessant demands for money common in today's church. The email said the church under leader David Miscavige was too focused on posh buildings and was keeping more than $1 billion in reserve instead of spending it to spread the religion.

It also said Miscavige had effectively dismantled the internal checks and balances that were supposed to prevent the church from being led by a single person.

The church's intense focus on fundraising was detailed by the Times in November in a four-part investigative series titled "The Money Machine.'' It revealed church leaders pressure staffers to meet weekly fundraising targets. As a result, many resort to coercive and deceitful tactics and many parishioners go deeply into debt so they can pay the church.....

THE NEW LETTER FROM DEBBIE COOK

Here is the text of the letter former high-ranking Scientology leader Debbie Cook released to the Tampa Bay Times.

My name is Debbie Cook. Your publication just wrote about my New Year's Eve email to some of our Scientologist friends — church insiders — and included the full text of the email.

Someone else turned around and sent this letter to thousands of Scientologists — news articles are reporting 12,000 — and from there, you published it and other media outlets sensationalized it further. My email was no doubt tough reading for outsiders, as it quoted liberally and invoked duties from our own church policies and organizations.

Such matters are of paramount interest to Scientologists, but of no interest to the general public. Unfortunately this left various media to seize upon certain points that might titillate a public without a real understanding of the church, while downplaying the main point, which is my love for Scientology and my passion for it as laid out in the pure principles and guidance from L. Ron Hubbard.

I am not trying to pick a fight with the Church, nor am I bitter, or blasting or any of the other things concocted by other media outlets. I am simply asking my friends to do their part, the part that Mr. Hubbard asked of all Scientologists, which is to make sure that they only follow the workable technology laid out in policy and bulletins written by Hubbard exactly as he wrote them. This is the responsibility every Scientologist has — to keep it unadulterated.

This is the very reason I didn't want this in the press. All you got wind of was some internal group pressure to keep things on the straight and narrow. It was clearly intended as a communication amongst Scientologists.

I have been a Scientologist for 36 years. My experience of meeting and working with Scientologists all over the world is that they are truly good-hearted, ethical and caring people.

The staff of Scientology organizations work very hard, long hours to service and help anyone who walks in their doors.

Scientology organizations provide services that help people with their problems and improve conditions in one's life. Whether that is drug addiction or alcohol abuse, marital problems, school problems, kid problems, work related stress or pretty much any of life's twists and turns.

In most cases the reason Scientologists donate to the Church or even dedicate their lives to working for the Church is because their lives have been truly touched and they have been profoundly helped through the application of technology laid out by Mr. Hubbard.

Scientologists are active in community service, with community clean-ups, Winter Wonderland, adopting streets, planting trees, working with the Fire Dept as emergency response. At pretty much any natural disaster anywhere in the world you will find Scientologists as Volunteer Ministers there on the scene helping in any way they can. These and many other incredibly good things that Scientologists are involved in are the reason we care so much.

more at http://www.tampabay.com/news/scientology/in-letter-former-scientology-leader-debbie-cook-renews-concerns-about/1209547

[mefree]

Scientology Insider Emails Attack on Church Finances - Daily Beast
7 January 2012, 12:16 am
By Janet Reitman


On New Year's Day, the Church of Scientology, no stranger to scandal, was treated to yet another dose, this time from a former church official named Debbie Cook.

In an email Cook sent to an astonishing 12,000 people—arguably the most dedicated core of the group--she accused Scientology's leadership of hoarding more than $1 billion in donations; spending lavishly on new churches; punishing former executives with draconian measures; and overselling Scientology books and services to members already stretched by high-pressure sales tactics.

What was stunning about Cook's email wasn't what she said—in researching and writing my investigative history of the church, Inside Scientology, I heard all of these stories and more, and the blogosphere has been buzzing with these reports for more than a year. What was shocking was that Cook, of all people, said it. Allegations of mismanagement and reports of physical, emotional, and financial abuse have been the bread and butter of church critics. Cook, though, is not a "critic" of the church; to the contrary, she was a devoted Scientologist who, for years, has been one of Scientology's truest believers and standard bearers.

more at http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/01/07/scientology-insider-emails-attack-on-church-finances.html

[mefree]

Heh.....Louanne was quick to comment on this one.

Former Scientology executive sends email critical of Scientology to 12000 ... - God Discussion
6 January 2012, 12:48 pm



Debra Cook, who used to be an executive with the Church of Scientology, is not happy with the direction the church is going under the leadership of David Miscavige.  She's so unhappy with the church that she sent an email to 12,000 church members.

The 50-year-old Debra Cook was an executive at the Church's Florida headquarters.  The Village Voice characterized her email: "She, like many other longtime church members who have been leaving Scientology, is fed up with the intense pressure under leader David Miscavige to raise money from people who are already giving every penny they can." She claimed that Miscavige's domination of the church violates the checks and balances placed in the church by its founder, L. Ron Hubbard.

http://www.goddiscussion.com/88483/former-scientology-executive-sends-email-critical-of-scientology-to-12000-members-claims-church-is-hoarding-over-1-billion/

[mefree]

The New Year's Eve Email that Rocked Scientology
7 January 2012, 10:38 am
Ted Mann 2,181 Views 10:27 AM ET



Just after midnight, on New Year's Day, Debbie Cook, a former high-ranking official in the Church of Scientology and still, by her account, a member in good standing, sent an email to 12,000 people. The long message, full of Scientology jargon and citations of the writings of founder L. Ron Hubbard, was a shot across the bow of the group's current leader, David Miscavige.

A week later, longtime Scientology watchers are still parsing Cook's allegations, and debating the effect her message will have on members of the insular group, whose critics call it a cult. Cook's email came just after the end of a long year for defenders of Scientology. 2011 saw the publication of Lawrence Wright's "The Apostate," an exhaustive piece for The New Yorker that chronicled the departure of filmmaker Paul Haggis from the church, amid extensive concerns about alleged abuse of group members. That followed years of coverage by reporters from the Village Voice and Rolling Stone, trying to explain the workings of a secretive religion. And Cook's email was sent just a few weeks after a massive investigation into the financial dealings of the church by the Tampa Bay Times, which reported spending on lavish construction projects even as church staff "hounded" individual members to buy scriptural texts and participate in auditing courses to raise more cash for the organization.

The email from Debbie Cook added a lot of fuel to that fire.

Voice editor-in-chief Tony Ortega has annotated the text of Cook's lengthy missive, explaining how she tried to appeal to fellow believers in the organization's teachings even as she condemned the focus on raising funds aggressively from members, and the construction of lavish new buildings around the country, apparently to please Miscavige, the group's leader, who is portrayed as a malevolent, physically abusive, and mercurial presence by critics and pieces like Wright's.

The church leaders have built up $1 billion in cash reserves, Cook says, and have not paid that back out to members, as seemingly dictated by the writings of Hubbard. That figure has been "one of the most-talked about things in her e-mail," Ortega writes. "Can Scientology really have so much at its disposal?"

more at http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2012/01/new-years-eve-email-rocked-scientology/47114/

[mefree]

I wonder where this story will show up next? 

Scientology Leaders Allegedly Tortured Whistleblower - SexIs Magazine
6 January 2012, 10:16 am

Being stuck in the desert with other Scientologists wasn't torture enough.

This is one of those things you read and think “What the fuck? This can’t be true.” Village Voice’s editor-in-chief Tony Ortega reported Wednesday on the alleged ritualistic humiliation and assault of alleged homosexuals in the Scientology community, specifically of former Church of Scientology executive Debbie Cook. Cook recently wrote an email denouncing the fund-raising practices of the church’s current leadership, says the International Business Times.

But Ortega’s story is much more disturbing. Homophobia is a well-known aspect of Scientology, Ortega writes, and founder L. Ron Hubbard called it a “perversion” in “Dianetics,” the book on which the church is founded....

more at http://www.edenfantasys.com/sexis/sex-and-society/scientology-homophobia-0106122/

[Intelligence]

From an "insider" source who has been helping me for long time now.

TO:dc4loves@yahoo.ca Message flagged Sunday, January 8, 2012 12:23:14 PM

Hello David,

I am in a position of knowing that Miscavige is for sure very ''enturbulated'' with the Debbie Cook situation - never an executive did that in the CO$ - usually they are terrified.

That would be a perfect time to hit him - as there is a major situation in France-  the Jan Eastgate case and some other legal situation in other countries.  He can't put all his effort on your case as the CO$ will be fighting on many fronts.  Fighting the truth is more difficult than fighting lies.  Miscavige is well known for goofing and messing up when he is hit - it drives hims crazy and being a true mindfuck cult mind , his way of handling situations makes it even worse for him.

Good luck for your next coming hearing or decisions.

Don't underestimate OSA - they spy you as it's per policy.

Jane/John Doe

[mefree]

There's more.......

Church of Scientology sues longtime Clearwater leader over New Year's Eve email
30 January 2012, 8:05 pm
By Joe Childs and Thomas C.Tobin, Times Staff Writers Monday, January 30, 2012

The Church of Scientology has sued its longtime Clearwater leader Debbie Cook after she publicly questioned the church's aggressive fundraising tactics and other practices.

The lawsuit — filed Friday in San Antonio, Texas, where Cook lives — reveals that the church paid Cook and her husband, Wayne Baumgarten, $50,000 each to remain silent about their time on church staff.

Cook, 50, worked 17 years as the church's top official in Clearwater, Scientology's worldwide spiritual headquarters. Serving in the post of "captain," she presided over an operation that brought in $1.7 billion for the church during that time.

Cook and Baumgarten each signed non-disclosure agreements as they left the staff in October 2007. All told, Cook had worked in the church's religious order, the Sea Org, for 29 years.....

more, including documents at http://www.tampabay.com/news/scientology/article1213102.ece
Link to lawsuit at http://www.tampabay.com/specials/2012/PDFs/scientology013112/3143_001.pdf

[mefree]

A Times Editorial:
Scientology's First Amendment rights and wrongs
In Print: Wednesday, February 1, 2012

The Church of Scientology relies heavily on First Amendment religious freedoms to shield itself from scrutiny in this country, but it is awfully quick to suppress freedom of speech that enjoys the same constitutional protections. The same church that raises the specter of Nazi oppression whenever it faces inquiry from German and French officials, expects its former, hardworking employees in the United States to sign away their free speech rights for as little as $500 in severance. The First Amendment is not a buffet where some rights are recognized and other inconvenient ones are ignored.

The hypocrisy is clear in the church's latest retaliation against a former employee who dared to speak out even as she attempted to provoke reforms from within. Debbie Cook, the church's former longtime leader in Clearwater, is now facing a lawsuit in Texas for allegedly violating her 2007 severance agreement. On New Year's Eve, her letter urging Scientologists to work internally to reform the church's aggressive fundraising tactics and other practices reached thousands of church members via email and became widely publicized, including in the Tampa Bay Times.

more at http://www.tampabay.com/opinion/editorials/article1213244.ece

[mefree]

From an "insider" source who has been helping me for long time now.

TO:dc4loves@yahoo.ca Message flagged Sunday, January 8, 2012 12:23:14 PM

Hello David,

I am in a position of knowing that Miscavige is for sure very ''enturbulated'' with the Debbie Cook situation - never an executive did that in the CO$ - usually they are terrified.

That would be a perfect time to hit him - as there is a major situation in France-  the Jan Eastgate case and some other legal situation in other countries.  He can't put all his effort on your case as the CO$ will be fighting on many fronts.  Fighting the truth is more difficult than fighting lies.  Miscavige is well known for goofing and messing up when he is hit - it drives hims crazy and being a true mindfuck cult mind , his way of handling situations makes it even worse for him.

Good luck for your next coming hearing or decisions.

Don't underestimate OSA - they spy you as it's per policy.

Jane/John Doe

Very interesting!

[mefree]

Australian TV channel ninemsm item broadcast on 3rd February 2012 regarding Scientologist Debbie Cook and her husband being sued by the cult for speaking out, allegedly in breach of a non-disclosure agreement.

http://youtu.be/fJkft35qcPI

[mefree]

Wow! This is how Scientology treats its upper echelon. Kind of makes you worry about the little guy, huh?

Ex-Clearwater Scientology leader claims kidnapping, torture before she left church - Tampabay.com
9 February 2012, 12:10 pm

Video: http://bcove.me/mlebd9gu

SAN ANTONIO, Texas — Former Scientology executive Debbie Cook disclosed in court papers today that the church's worldwide leader David Miscavige ordered a staffer to smack her to the floor and another to break her finger in the weeks before she left the church's religious order in 2007.

Cook made that allegation and others in an e-mail to church officials last month. The e-mail was submitted to a Texas court today, where the church is suing Cook for violating a confidentiality agreement she signed upon her resignation.

The church did not immediately respond to Cook's charges.

In the e-mail, Cook insisted that a letter she wrote to fellow Scientologists on New Year's Eve had not violated the agreement or harmed the church. Cook told church leaders to stop harassing her.

"Think about what I could have done if my actual intentions were to cause real damage" to the church's reputation, she wrote.

She listed some of what she had seen....

more at http://www.tampabay.com/news/scientology/ex-clearwater-scientology-leader-claims-kidnapping-torture-before-she-left/1214690