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Los Angeles Pickets, May 2006
Date:
May 6, 2006
Picket reports from May 6, 2006 in Los Angeles, California: [Thanks Dave, Barb, Jeff, Mark, Feisty--Goonybird, and All else who picketed!] This was one rockin day! I really appreciate all that each of you did to make this such a successful two pickets :) ((Dave helped on the back lines, just for the record, and that is always appreciated!)) You don't have to be at a picket to help out on one....FYI. Tory/Magoo Dancing in the moonlight - From the Operation Clambake Forum: http://ocmb.xenu.net/ocmb/viewtopic.php?t=18287 Scientology - it's worse than you think I'mglib wrote: So, I'm back from my first ever picket and it was awesome. Yes, awesome. I got to meet Tory and some other great people, who also have very healthy senses of humor, but more on that later. First we arrived at Sherrif Baca's Office, which was unfortunately behind a gate, so we stood on a busy street with our signs. One good sign said BACA, CULT SHILL in huge letters on flourescent colored paper. People honked and waved, and then after 1 hour we packed up to go to Hollywood. We arrived in Hollywood at the Scn building, and Xenu prepared his costume. Yes, Xenu was there. We were on a side street getting ready, when the security guard discovered us (they're quick). Someone else had a giant pole with something like 8-10 blowup Xenu dolls on it. I had my famous "Ten Reasons You Should Run Away Screaming From Scientology" flyer. The security guard turned back and went back to the building. On the corner of Hollywood and Ivar we proceded to wave our signs and hand out flyers. The response was a lot of horn honking and head nodding from the cars and passers by. My sign said "SCIENTOLOGY, IT'S WORSE THAN YOU THINK" (borrowed from Arnie), and Tory's said "HONK IF YOU DON'T THINK YOU ARE INFESTED BY SPACE ALIENS." I also had a NARCONON=SCIENTOLOGY, and my own green Xenu doll, so I was pretty loaded down. Then, there on the corner, stood Xenu, waving like the queen of the Rose Parade. People were laughing a pointing. I went up and handed a women a flyer through her open window, and she came back later asking for more. Tory immediately got cornered by some current Scinos, and I think she knew some of them. Some people tried to ask me things like, "Why are you here?" "Has Scn hurt you personally?" To this second question I said, "So you're only against things that hurt you personally? That's pretty selfish." And, "I'm exercising my right to free speech." I kinda took my cues from some of the old timers who kept it low key ("It's better to make ourselves look as different as possible than the Scientologists.") and tried not to get engaged or angry because it's probably futile, and time is better spent handing out flyers. The secrurity guard kept walking back and forth, talking on his radio. At one point he took our pictures. He had on a very official-looking, black uniform, with this belt that had about six different things in the pouches. I figured one was a flashlight, and my husband suggested that maybe the others held batteries. Some Sea Org people walked by, and to their credit, they ignored us. I felt bad for them because here it was Saturday night in Hollywood, and they were working. They were pretty young, too, and wore white shirts and black Dickie pants. A guy who worked around the corner came by and said that the SCn building is open 24 hours. Xenutv showed up, so maybe some of this will show up on Xenutv.com After an hour or so we packed it in. I took a tour of Melrose and Robertson to see what the rich and famous were doing, and got an excellent bowl of corn chowder to go from Barefoot on 3rd street. It's the best corn chowder ever. Good times. ------- I had a few more observations that I forgot to mention: 1. When we first got there, the Sea Org drapes were open, but within minutes they were closed. 2. As we were leaving with Xenu and the signs and the blow up dolls, a tour bus went by (double decker with the people on top out in the open). The bus driver slowed down to talk to us, and we chatted about Xenu. We gave him a blowup doll and a bunch of flyers, and he seemed happy about that. 3. Tory is as nice in person as she is on this message board. 4. I almost wish I had talked more to the Scinos who approached us. The little I did talk to them, I was surprised at how little they knew, and how poor their debating skills were. -------- magoo1 wrote: This was a terrific two pickets! First, meeting the people from Leona Valley, and learning their story, and how on top of Narconon infesting their neighborhood they are, was really cool. As I'm Glib said, it was fun for all of us to meet. :wink: And Jeff showed up in his Dr's outfit with his name, "Dr. Fake". He's perfect for the Dr role!! All of us were quite surprised at how many people on this little frontage road were honking and waiving....but they were! We all picketed there for I'd say an hour, and then we moved onto Hollywood, as has been posted. We'd met previously at the Sizzler, and that is always fun for us to do. It's sort of a tradition for the gang to meet before hand, and then go picket. Gooneybird also showed up, someone we hadn't seen in 2 years! Xenu had arrived at my house in droves on Friday, and Freisty was the master mind of this! She put a bunch of them on dowels....so she could carry more than one. They were a hit for tons of people! :wink: My sign wasn't about Space aliens, it says: "Honk if you Think Scientology is a CULT". Tons and Tons of people honked while we were picketing. Many wanted their pictures taken with either Xenu or me, or Dr. Fake! Mark Bunker arrived, hooked me up with a mike, and we'll see how that turns out. Barb also was there dressed up as a live XENU, and many wanted to get their pics taken with Xenu. I had a rather long conversation with two "OT's" who were there to "handle" us. The wife, although pretty fake, was at least willing to communicate some. Her husband looked at me and said, "You're a wacko". I said first of all I wanted to congratulate his wife, as at LEAST she could, to some degree, apply the very basics of Scientology: Communication. He, one the other hand, totally violated the basics of Scientology and IS why many people are out there criticising their 'church'. I pointed out to him that he didn't even know me, that someone had put that black pr line into his head, and it's that kind of abuse (Fair Game and Scientology's attempts to silence people) that people around the world are standing up fighting them for, and shall do so until they stop. I think he began to see what I was talking about, as people continued to honk while we talked. From that point, he got nicer, and was more willing to talk. We taked about quite a bit, and we'll see if it sticks in his head or not. I asked both of them, once they'd heard that OSA has up 5 P A G E S of flat out lies about me, IF they were going to do anything about that? Neither would commit to even trying. She tried to promote her Wins, as I had done in the past, and I told her I was just like her 5 years ago. But SEEING Such abuse, I got to a point where I couldn't just do nothing. She tried to slide off of that. I told his wife the bottom line is: "How do you know if a Scientologist is lying? If their lips are moving!" ( She said Scientologists don't lie, yet here they were, ignoring that their "Church" posts flat out lies about people---and trying to slide off with the "We don't know". Ya...right). As the day wound down, we began to walk up the street. To our great surprise, tons of Sea Org came marching across the street. Of course Feisty had the Xenu dolls, and we both suggested they don't waste their lives. They hussled on by, and we left to come home for a delightful party here at my house. I'm Glib....next time you'll have to drop by! We had some fun discussions after. Same for Gooney, who had to go home, too. All in all, it was a terrific day, and now we're having a slumber party!!! Happiness is doing what you want to do, and enjoying it! :wink: :cheers: My best to all, Tory/Magoo -- "Feisty" posted: So many places to protest, not enough hours in the day! We met on Saturday May 6, 2006 to protest, originally because the dianetics anniversary which is/was today, May 9. Due to other recent concerns and citizens interested to stand up, we gathered to support activists in Leona Valley to protest Sheriff Baca's cult connection to endorse Narconon. We then picketed by the LRH Museum on Hollywood and Ivar. We unfortunately missed picketing at the Arc Light Theatre during the opening night of Mission Impossible 3, although we had the best of intentions to try. (We are only human!) To all of our surprise, the Arc Light has come up with its own protest of "numbers" after the weekend, the signs of a desperate cult. The fallacy of trying to inflate numbers, even if successfully done without notice, does nothing to help make $cientology look important. This is only a feeble try to cover the big league sales tactics and failing PR ech of head spokeperson and salesman for the cult, Tom Cruise. We started off in the usual tradition by meeting at the Sizzler at noon. Had a bite to eat and headed out to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's facility on Ramona Blvd. to protest Sheriff Leroy Baca's endorsement of the Narconon program. Tory, Jeff, Barb and I arrived and were met by three other other residents of Leona Valley, a new picketer, and later by two others. We received many honks, but due to the road being situated right near the front of the complex of buildings, foot traffic was slow. Hoewever our protest was successful. I made a sign that said "Baca Way from $cientology - Not our taxpayer dollars" with the url: http://Stop-Narconon.com/Baca Others had some good signs too, with Jeff Jacobsen's fluorescent sign the best to view from afar. We learned alot of things that the cult had been up to in Leona Valley, and basically $cientology came into a relatively small town with big PR tactics. The isolation of Sheriff Baca, bussing in $cientologists to meetings and fixed letter writing campaigns, strong-arming the local paper with Narconon ads and celebrity attention is all a part of the show to look like something it is not. The scales of concensus are repeatedly fixed with a faux set of actors who cannot take away the voice of the taxpayers and those who know that an endorsement here means a stepping stone somewhere else. It is a feudal, not fair. It is encouraging that another meeting will be held in July for some of the facts to be reviewed. This is why it is so important to realize that paying taxes does give you the right to speak up and question and add information that $cientology leaves out or fraudulently publishes. Getting such a scam approved only means funding for programs that have to do with criminal reentry programs or others similar. Their job is to avoid review, and lessen people who can bring a fair concensus. The process is fixed and corrupt. Not if the residents of Leona Valley keep doing such a good job, and all of us keep writing. (back to the picket...) After an hour, we moved on to the L Ron Hubbard Life Museum at Hollywood and Ivar, across from the Sea Organization headquarters. Within minutes of arriving, the curtains on the top floor of the Sea Org bldg. were closed. I had my hands full of space aliens, so someone else carried my sign. It said, "Tom Cruise Censors Space Aliens, Watch South Park - Save $400,000 and with http://www.Xenu.net up in the corner. I did have colorful http://www.Lermanet.com flyers that covered Isaac Hayes leaving South Park, and Tom Cruises further censorship of the rebroadcast of Episode 912 - Trapped in the Closet with the Xenu Story. I passed out every one of the 100 I brought. Xenu stood regally at the corner of Hollywood and Ivar and drew quite a crowd. Many knew who Xenu is and several families with kids and others stopped to take pictures. I held a frame with five inflatable aliens, as a tribute to Dianetics day, and as a testament to what is on the cover of the book. The honest truth is that this is a consumer issue, a bait and switch ruse that everyone should know. "You are not infested with space aliens! We just saved you $400,000 dollars!" It is every taxpayers right to bring this issue to the forefront and bridge the gap between the bad alternative health advice, and what really is behind all those human problems. So Xenu and the clusters of space aliens were there to commemorate and stand where they belonged - by the founder who created the implant station for this cruel con game that takes peoples money and mind - L Ron Hubbard. The building should appropriately be named, "The space opera building" (Some who think we were selling the aliens may have a good idea, as every carnival has its props and it's not surreal that this would be where Xenu belongs all the time.) Colorful aliens much cheaper! Jeff was dressed appropriately as "Dr. Fake," the perfect role considering Tom Cruises giving advice about pregnancy and post partum one day, and chugging oil the next. Would you take advice from Dr. Fake? The statement Jeff's attire made covered many of $cientology's deadly quack teachings - fake claims of curing, the treatment and demise of Lisa McPherson and others; the list goes on and on. The amount of handlers here was more than I have seen during the time I have protested, about seven at one point. Obvious jobs: take pictures to put in the massive database of information $cientology keeps. Identify who the people are. Ask what their motive is, and what organization then represent. I've never attended a protest where they did not do this, yet it is always interesting to see how each member adapts to this virulent practice. This is what they got into $cientology for? This is obviously something that they must brief members on, who come out to handle someone based on crude and dishonest information. "Those people out there" must be really bad for some reason. Some of the members tried to engage us in conversation. This is about as effective as doing this on ars, and shows the same lack of logical means to debate. Face to face however is quite an observation, to see how $cientology members are "all in their head" - or how the tech is talking and the ears are closed. The idea is not for them to understand what you are saying, as much as they are trying to get you into answering to L Ron Hubbards line of questioning, or - thinking the way they are! The built in stance in which they are so individually claiming to be speaking from includes having to have you convert to the way they are thinking. It's built into the responses they give, and is quite bizarre. This lacks debate totally and is a very indicative of the language skills they are trained with. The dialogue is repetitive and so old, very narrow and includes giving you every reason to respond in the way they expect, the entrapping and subversive cult think... It is not intimidating to talk to these members, it is just about talking plainly, avoiding these communicative traps, and get them thinking about something in a normal way if even for a while. Tory is the best person I have ever heard communicating to members who have come out to address picketers. She knows just where the problem lies in the limitations of what these members are allowed to say when they come out to talk. She knows, she has been there. The main point is that they are not practicing what they learned if they cannot think about something another person says. And for the short time she addressed this one gentleman who came out, you can see that he stopped a few times to think. There were a few brief moments of exchange to this gentleman where what Tory said sunk. That they can read something else or hear something else is a major breakthrough that really allows people to be free. The flipside of that is seeing what I described as talking with the ears closed, and surely depriving of ones freedom of speech. I never forget what Tory says to members and it is so true, "if Hubbard said you are so free then why can't you read other things or talk to me?" It was odd to hear the ECT story from this same gentleman Tory talked to. I asked, "what book or information have you been given," because he spoke as if it were happening so excessively, "right now." I told him it was pretty rare these days, and he started making "whoa ho ho ho" noises as if I were misinformed. You could see the level of hysteria from teaching such things are in fact, excessive. Others came from Leona Valley and Goonybird and a new picketer were there talking to members and the many people walking by. I walked across the street to the HELP Hollywood Education Literacy Project because I saw some mothers and children leaving. The children smiled at all the colorful space aliens and asked for one, so I gave one to each of the two families. (I gave away 10 at least) The mothers said that the kids were receiving tutoring there, and I told them that although they think their children are receiving some attention, they should beware that the method used is the study technology of $cientology and that the children would be learning the language that L Ron Hubbard taught. They said they would look on the internet and read about it. It was odd to see the uniformed sea org members march by in double lines from the sea org building to the museum and then later back to the sea org facility. They were mostly young adults, good looking kids who should be out enjoying life. Tory and I told them to leave as they walked by, amongst other things. Mark Bunker was there to interview and film the protest at the "Space Opera Building" and did a great job. http://www.xenutv.com/pickets/hollywood-baca.htm After the picket we went to Tory's house for a gathering of picketers and other guests. We enjoyed some good food and conversation. Several people called in from all over, and the phone was passed around so we could all say hello. Keith Henson called too for a brief chat even though he had been busy talking to the people at the International Space Development Conference. I took the next day to drive over to Ida Camburn's house where we spent a pleasant afternoon talking about the picket and reminisced about all the people who had passed her way over the years. We even attended a singalong at the local club which was entirely relaxing after a busy day. I am grateful to know Ida and everyone I have met who care to stand up for our Constitutional right to freedom of speech and the right to assemble. After driving through the mountains and a little jet lag, Feisty Get Up, Stand Up, stand up for your right Jeff Jacobsen's pictures from the protests Scientology and Historic Buildings - Like Hitler and the Third Reich -- "Mark Bunker" posted: Dr. Fake brings his quackery to the L. Ron Hubbard Life Exhibitiion in Hollywood. Xenu, Feisty and another lovely lady share in the fun. Plus, Tory gets in comm with a handler who can't believe Hubbard had Vistiril in his butt: http://www.xenutv.com/pickets/hollywood-baca.htm Enjoy! -- "Jeff Jacobsen" posted: Had a great time. [photos from LA picket] http://www.lisamcpherson.org/la_picket_06.htm -- "Arnaldo Lerma" posted: THIS IS GREAT! This is the best training video for bringing a true believer to doubt I have ever seen! Thank you Tory! Hubbard's coroner report with the PROOF he died with the anti psytchotic medication VISTARIl in his bloodstream is linked from a page crafted by michael tilse for exiting current members - his letter is the written equivalent to Tory's verbal effort. http://www.lermanet.com/scientology/dear-scientologist.htm -- Message-ID: [email protected] ( categories: ) |