Scientology Wins Tax Exemption in South Africa

Church of Scientology Johannesburg

A tax exemption has been awarded to the Church of Scientology by the SA Revenue Services (SARS), the Church said on Tuesday.

“We are ecstatic, this is a memorable and historic day for us as it provides us with an even better opportunity to serve our community and scientologists,” said President of the Church, Ryan Hogarth.

He said that SARS issued the Church with a certificate on Monday approving its status as a ‘Public Benefit Organisation’.

“This was after 42 years and 26 applications to the South African Revenue Service,” Hogarth said.

He said the approval followed similar recognition in countries such as Sweden, Germany, Spain, and New Zealand, as well the European Court of Human Rights.

SARS spokesperson Adrian Lackey said the reason for such a long awaited approval might have been to determine if the Church met the criteria as a ‘Public Benefit Organisation’.

“We cannot confirm the exemption due to a confidentiality clause, but if the public wishes to donate money to the church - then they could ask to view the certificate,” Lackey said.

Tom Cruise Awarded For Courage

Hollywood star Tom Cruise has won a German film award for his willingness to take risks in his new film “Valkyrie” which details the failed Operation Valkyrie plot to kill Adolf Hitler, media reports on Wednesday.

The “courage” prize was presented during the 59th annual Bambi Awards ceremony in the northern city of Duesseldorf, German, on Thursday, the 29th of November.

The prize committee jury said in a statement that Cruise has pursued brave project which is making an international public familiar with the story that has never before been the theme: the German resistance heroes against the Third Reich.

The film, directed by Bryan Singer and co-starring British actor Kenneth Branagh, is slated for a 2008 release.

In the film, Cruise plays Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, who tried to assassinate Adolf Hitler with a briefcase bomb on July 20, 1944 as Germany was losing the war, and was executed at the Bendlerblock along with his fellow conspirators.

Some resistance to Cruise’s work in “Valkyrie” has come from inside German government ministries. Defence Minister Franz Josef Jung initially said he did not want Cruise to film at the site because the actor is a Scientologist, which some in the German government described as a sect. Despite the Church of Scientology being recognized in the United States as a religious organization the Defence Ministry tried to ban Cruise from filming at the “Bendlerblock” complex in Berlin where the conspirators were executed, on the basis that Cruise is a Scientologist.

It took the filmmakers months of persuasion to convince the German government that allowing Cruise to film at the site would not amount to its desecration but would honor the memory of the resistance heroes.

The ministry relented after the filmmakers agreed to incorporate a scene showing that Germany had emerged from the evil of the Nazi regime to become a fully democratic country. The ministry later relented and allowed Cruise to film at the Bendlerblock and elsewhere in Berlin this autumn.

In Church of Scientology has had to fight discrimination against its members in Europe and this past year won a major court case against the Russian government in the European Court of Human Rights on this issue. Earlier this month, the Church also won a court case in Spain, and is now recognized as a religious organization there as well as in Portugual and Italy.

In his book, The Way To Happiness, L. Ron Hubbard encourages people to respect the religious beliefs of others. “Tolerance is a good cornerstone on which to build human relationships. When one views the slaughter and suffering caused by religious intolerance down all the history of Man and into modern times, one can see that intolerance is a very non-survival activity.”

“Religious tolerance does not mean one cannot express his own beliefs. It does mean that seeking to undermine or attack the religious faith and beliefs of another has always been a short road to trouble.”

This subject is part of a series of public service anouncements that were made by Scientologists. You can watch the one covering religious tolerance here.

Anyone who is interested can also read The Way To Happiness online.

THE CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY: AN APOLOGY

The Church of Scientology London

The following retraction ran in the Sunday Express.

 

” On November 11 in the page 12 column headed ‘Cruise’s fury at Morton’ it was reported that Andrew Morton had run into serious trouble when writing a biography of Tom Cruise because of threats from Scientologists.”

“It is now accepted that this is not true and that Mr Morton has not received threats or that he was forced to sell his flat and move underground to write the book.”

“We apologise to the Church of Scientology and its members for the embarrassment and distress caused by the article.”

National Church of Scientology Recognized in Spain

World News

 

Headquarters of the Church of Scientology of Spain in Madrid.

 

 

Religious recognition of the Scientology religion in Spain vindicates the Church and is a new beginning for all Spanish Scientologists.

2007-11-04 - The National Court in Madrid has issued a landmark decision affirming the right to religious freedom in Spain by recognizing that the National Church of Scientology of Spain should be entered in the Registry of Religious Entities.

 

“This recognition marks the end of an era in which Spanish Scientologists were forced to fight for their rights to religious freedom. It vindicates the Church of Scientology and is a new beginning for all Spanish Scientologists,” said Ivan Arjona, spokesperson for the National Church of Scientology in Spain (www.scientology.es).

 

The National Court thoroughly examined the Church’s formative documents and aims and purposes to unequivocally determine that the National Church of Scientology of Spain has the right to be registered as a religion under Spanish law.

 

In reaching this decision, the National Court also relied on decisions of the European Court of Human Rights, most notably the Human Rights Court’s unanimous decision of April 2007 affirming that the Church of Scientology is entitled to the rights and protections of religious freedom that flow to religious organizations pursuant to Article 9 of the European Human Rights Convention. The principles enunciated in that decision upheld the religious freedom of Scientologists and their religious associations and apply throughout the forty-seven member states that have signed and ratified the European Human Rights Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.

 

“This is the culmination of a series of landmark victories for the Church of Scientology in Europe. Thanks to this recognition, we are now able to devote all our effort and attention to making our community and our country the best it can be, for all its people. The National Court’s decision is extremely significant because it constitutes the latest official recognition of the Church of Scientology as a religious organization in Europe. It mandates that Scientologists and their religious associations be afforded the same rights and privileges as members of other registered religious organizations throughout the European Community and in the European Union.” Arjona said.

 

In September 2004, the National Church of Scientology of Spain opened grand new premises in the heart of Madrid. That new Scientology church represents not only a house of worship for the thousands of Scientologists in the country, but a resource to the community - and nation - at large. The Church’s social betterment programs reach millions of people every year.

 

The Scientology religion was founded by L. Ron Hubbard. The first church was established in the United States in 1954. Since then, it has grown to more than 7,500 churches, missions and groups and ten million members in 163 nations.

 

Scientology first came to Spain in the late 1960s.

 

For more information about Scientology, see http://www.scientologytoday.org

 

Spanish Court Rules Scientology A Religion

David Miscavige

MADRID — A court in Spain has ruled in favour of listing the Church of Scientology among the nation’s official register of religions, according to a decision from the administrative tribunal of Madrid’s High Court which ruled that a 2005 justice ministry decision to scrap the church from the register was “against the law.”

Responding to a petition filed by the church, the ruling said that no documents had been presented in court to demonstrate it was anything other than a religious entity.

“As a result it is more correct, and within a liberal interpretation which applies to the matter, to grant the requested inscription (in the list),”  the text of the ruling said.

The Los Angeles-based Church of Scientology was founded in the United States in 1954 by L. Ron Hubbard, who described it as an “applied religious philosophy.”

It teaches that technology can expand the mind and help solve problems and counts actors Tom Cruise and John Travolta among its 10 million members.

In 1993, after a long legal battle, the US Internal Revenue Service officially recognised it as a church for tax purposes.

The movement has been active since 1983 in Spain where it operates a large, luxurious head office in central Madrid.

Last April, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Russia had illegally blocked Scientology from registering as a church in Moscow and ordered payment of 10,000 euros (13,000 dollars) in damages.

- Taken from an AFP report

Christian Markert and Ursula Caberta

This is an affidavit that was filed in the sentencing of Regina Tatum who was involved in a major scam along with Christian Markert, the notorious con-man who was hired by Ursula Caberta to assist her in her hate campaign against the Church of Scientology.

A F F I D A V I T

I, Carrie A. Beving, being duly sworn, hereby depose and say:

1. I am a Special Agent (“SA”) of the United States Secret Service (“USSS”) assigned to the Los Angeles Field Office, and have been employed by the USS since July 2001. Prior to my employment as a Special Agent, I was an Inspector with the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service. Among my duties is the investigation of financial fraud, including the theft of credit card account information and its fraudulent use.

2. This affidavit is made in support of a criminal complaint charging REGINA TATUM (“TATUM”) with violations of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1029 (a) (5) : effecting fraudulent transactions with another person’s access device in excess of $1,000. The facts set forth in this affidavit are based upon my personal observations, my training and experience, and information obtained from other law enforcement officers and witnesses. This affidavit is intended to show that there is sufficient probable cause to support the issuance of the criminal complaint, and does not purport to set forth all of my knowledge of or investigation into this matter.

3. Based on my training and experience, I know that fraudulent credit card schemes typically operate in the following manner: The suspect obtains credit card information for one or more persons, including the account name, number and expiration date. The suspect uses the credit card information to purchase merchandise or services.

4. On April 24, 2002, Redondo Beach Police Department Detective Peter Grim advised me that Carmela Rodriguez, owner of Riviera Village Travel, 1801 S. Catalina Ave., Redondo Beach, California, filed a police report against her former business partners Matthias Dabrowski and Christian Markert. In the report, Rodriguez stated the following:

a. In October 2001, Rodriguez entered into a business agreement with Dabrowski and Markert that allowed Dabraowski and Markert to rent office space in her building to sell airline tickets at wholesale prices to travel agents and the general public. Rodriquez allowed Dabrowski and Markert to use her Airline Reporting Commission (“ARC”) account to purchase tickets through the various airlines. ARC’s services include :

i. Travel agency accreditation.

ii. Ticket and ticket number assignment distribution and control.

iii. Travel transaction reporting and financial settlements.

iv. Other related travel and industry services.

b. Dabrowski and Markert called their travel agency “Click N Fly” and opened a joint Bank of America checking account, #0456-701594, with Carmela Rodriguez in the name of Riviera Village Travel aka Click N Fly. This joint account was used as an impound account where monies from ticket sales were to be deposited. The funds were then used to pay the airlines for tickets sold by both Riviera Village Travel and Click N Fly.

5. On May 22, 2002, I interviewed Carmela Rodriguez, who proivded the following information:

a. Dabrowski and Markert hired TATUM as an independent travel agent to sell tickets from her home in the Washington DC area for their business Click N Fly. Dabrowski and Markert provided Rodriguez with a copy of a business contract and requested that Rodriguez provided TATUM with access to Rodriguez’s ARC number to enable TATUM to sell tickets. Rodriguez agreed to do so.

b. Between November 2001 and March 2002, Dabrowski and Markert opened six unauthorized accounts in the name Carmela Rodriguez or business name Riviera Village Travel:

i. American Express (“AMEX”) Corporate Platinum accounts # XXXX XXXXX 91001.

ii. AMEX Business Gold account #XXXX XXXXXX 51002.

iii. AMEX Merchant account #XXX XXX 1706,

iv. AMEX Merchant account #XXX XXX 6793,

v. Citibank Officemax account #XXXX XXXXXX 676321,

vi. Citibank Staples account #XXXX XXXXXX 543979.

c. On March 14, 2002, Dabrowski went to Riviera Village Travel after hours and removed all of his and Markert’s personal property, including all records for their business, Click N Fly. Dabrowski left a letter stating that he was going back to France, his home country, and that Markert was not returning from Germany, where he was visiting. Dabrowski and Markert removed all funds from the joint checking account that they shared with Rodriguez.

d. Rodriguez received a call from Monica Bacon, who informed Rodriguez that from February 2002 until March 2002, there were 130 unauthorized charges made to Bacon’s AMEX Platinum account, #XXXX XXXX XXXX 001, for tickets purchased from Click N Fly/Riviera Village Travel. TATUM used her own issuing agent identification number to make all of these charges, which totaled more than $100,000.

e. Rodriguez received several charge backs to Riviera Village Travel/Click N Fly for airline tickets purchased with American Express account #XXXX XXXX XXXX 001. According to Rodriguez, when travel agents purchase tickets for air travel with a credit card, the airline itself charges the credit card provided by the travel agent. If the charge is later rejected and the travel already has occurred, the airline can hold the travel agency that facilitated the transaction liable for the amount of the fare under the agreement between the agencies and airlines.

6. On June 2, 2002, I spoke with Monica Bacon, who informed me that she never purchased tickets from either Riviera Village Travel or Click N Fly. Bacon did not know REGINA TATUM or authorize her to make airline ticket purchases with her AMEX Platinum corporate credit card, XXXX XXXX XXXX 001.

7. On January 7, 2002, I reviewed the court docket and plea agrement for United States v. Regina Tatum, 02-446-A (Eastern District of Virginia, Alexandria Division). According to these documents, on October 21, 2002, TATUM pleaded guilty to violating Title 18, United States Code, Section 1029 (a) (5), in the Eastern District of Virginia. I also have reviewed the complaint, affidavit, and statement of facts filed in that case, which reveals that TATUM had engaged in a airline ticket – credit card scheme very similar to the one in this case.

8. Based on my training and experience, I know that the subject transactions affected interstate commerce, as TATUM operated in the Washington D.C. Area, and the victim business, Riviera Village Travel, was located in Redondo Beach, California.

9. Based on the facts set forth in this affidavit and my experience as a law enforcement agent, I believe there is probable cause that REGINA TATUM violated Title 18, United States Code, Sections 1029 (a) (5) : effecting fraudulent transactions with another person’s access devices.

Carrie A. Beving
Special Agent
United States Secret Service

Subscribed and sworn to before me
On this 7^th day of January 2003.

Jennifer T. Lum
UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE

 

Rejection of Schizophrenia Pill is Schizophrenic

According to an article by Lisa Rapaport for bloomberg.com, Wyeth’s new schizophrenia drug was rejected by the Food and Drug Administration because it wasn’t shown to be effective.

But what do they really mean when they say a drug is not “effective” when we are working in the field of psychiatry?

In rejecting Bifepyunox the FDA said they needed more data showing that the drug, works before the agency will consider approval. Aside from the fact that none of these drugs work because the psychiatric / pharmaceutical industry still have no clue as to what causes schizophrenia much less understand what would actually cure it. So the industry’s idea of a drug “working” is simply that it numbs a person silly so that the outward signs of the problem are no longer visible. Meanwhile, these mind numbing schizophrenia drugs have consistently shown to have seriously harmful side effects.

Wouldn’t something actually be “effective” if we were talking in terms of something that cures what you are suffering from? This is not the case when we are dealing with the field of psychiatric disorders. The idea of an actual cure has long since been abandoned by psychiatry and so they opt for treatment after treatment which they pharmaceutical companies have found are a big cash cow.

In rejecting the drug, the FDA had another small matter that they were concerned about. It seems that need more information about a patient who died while taking the drug during the clinical trials. Hmmm ….

According to Bloomberg, antipsychotics are a $16 billion a year market and Wyeth is intent on getting a share of the big bucks by breaking into the market which is why it has been trying so hard to gain approval on Bifeprunox which they believe will generate as much as $1 billion in annual revenue.

Although their drug is not as “effective” as the other anti-psychotic drugs, Wyeth claims that at least Bifeprunox doesn’t cause weight gain, which is rampant with the other anti-psychotic drugs, which have been linked to diabetes.

What amazes me about this is the utter lack of reasoning ability by the folks who are pushing these drugs. They are saying that Wyeth’s drug Bifeprunox is less effective than similar medicines such as Eli Lilly & Co.’s Zyprexa. Wow! Isn’t Eli Lilly being sued all over the country by victims who were damaged by Zyprexa including a number of states who feel that they were deceived by Lilly? And this new drug is not as effective? In the double-speak of the psychiatric pharmaceutical industry they have now redefined the word “effective” in terms of other drugs which have been shown themselves to be downright destructive.

The irrationality with which these “experts” pump this pro-drug propaganda out is astounding, all in the name of making money off the American public.

The Drug Marketing Machine

 

Why are medical doctors allowing themselves to act as part of the marketing machine of the pharmaceutical industry?

“The most effective marketing is the marketing you’re not aware of,” says Dr. Peter Rost, a one-time pharmaceutical company marketing executive who has become an Internet-based industry watchdog.

“If you see an ad, you know it’s marketing. But if a friend or your doctor talks to you about a drug, you don’t.”

In 2006, drug-makers spent almost $5 billion to reach out to consumers with direct advertising. That was nothing compared to the estimated $19 billion annually that the world’s pharmaceutical companies spend to woo doctors. Pharmaceutical companies sponsor teaching programs and research at universities across the country. They give money to all sorts of patient advocacy groups and they hire public relations firms to spin out patient success stories.

According to the LA Times, “Each day in the United States, an army of roughly 100,000 pharmaceutical company sales reps storms the waiting rooms and offices of the nation’s 311,000 office-based physicians. Called “detailers” — and earning, on average, $81,700 per year — they are the smiling, well-dressed men and women often seen in a physicians’ waiting room toting a cavernous briefcase and making small-talk with the receptionists. Their ranks have more than doubled in the last 10 years.”

(See the recent LA Times articles from which a lot of this article was taken.)

The crazy thing about this is that when it comes to drugs for treating so-called mental illness, none of the psychiatrists or medical doctors nor the pharmaceutical companies actually know what causes “mental illness” and cannot point to one drug that actually cures it. There is no test, no bacteria or germ that can be pointed to that causes any mental illness.

In describing the sad state of affairs in the field of diagnosis in psychiatry in his bestselling book, Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health, L. Ron Hubbard made the following observations which are as pertinent today as they were 67 years ago:

“Hitherto, there have been almost unlimited classification. Further, there has been no optimum standard. As one researches in the field of psychiatric texts, he finds wide disagreement in classification and continual complaint that classification is very complex and lacking in usefulness. Without an optimum goal of conduct or mental state and without knowledge of the cause of aberration, catalogs of descriptions alone were possible and these were so involved and contradictory that it was nearly impossible to sharply assign to a psychotic or neurotic any classification which will lead to an understanding of his case. The main disability in this classification system was that the classification did not lead to a cure, for there was no standard treatment and there was no optimum state to indicate when treatment was at end. And as there was no cure for aberration or psychosomatic illness, there could be no classification which would indicate the direction which was to be taken or what could be expected of a case.”

Psychiatry is still in this state and thus the best they feel they can do is to drug their patients, so perhaps they are drugged up enough to not be able to think about their problems. General practitioners have fallen into the same trap.

 

 

The Ghost of Germany’s Past

According to Spiegel Online, certain German authorities would like to ban the Church Scientology in the country. Notwithstanding the fact that they have no evidence or legal justification for such a move, politicians are afraid that they just can’t get away with it.

The latest rash of insane rants was initiated by Ursula Caberta, a known human rights violator who works for the Hamburg Ministry of Interior. Several years ago, the state attorney investigated Caberta for almost two years on suspicion of corruption because she had accepted a “private loan” from a Church of Scientology opponent in the amount of 75,000 dollars. Caberta was able to get the proceedings dropped upon payment of a 7,500 euro fine.

Reading between the lines it is evident that the real reason that the concerned German officials are restrained from taking such a blatantly illegal action is their fear that it would be exposed as a major human rights violation and would give them another black eye to add to Germany’s long historical track of religious bigotry and intolerance, dating back to the days of the Holy Roman Empire.

Many people not familiar with Germany’s history ask the question why certain German politicians are so upset and downright crazy when it comes to the subject of Scientology.

I will attempt to answer this.

In Germany you have two main religious groups, the Catholic Church and the Protestants. Most Germans are born into either religion and over the centuries there has been no clear distinction between Church authority and government rule. Separation of Church and State is a new idea which has not fully taken hold in Germany as evidenced by the fact that the government still collects a Church tax from its citizens which it turns over to either the protestant or Catholic Churches. This amounts to billions of dollars into Church coffers every year.

Obviously the established churches will not bite the hand that feeds them and in fact in many cases, church officials hold government posts in Germany further bluring the line between government and religion.

As Scientology is new, has a purely religious purpose and accepts no tax money from the government, it is not beholden to any German political agenda. Not being under any government or politician’s thumb, there are individual German politicians and established church apologists who fear that if Scientology gained in influence and power it might force a morality on the government which any dishonest official would rather not have anything to do with.

The German government knows it cannot function without the allegience of its population and religious people tend to give their allegiance to God and the cause of good. Because the established churches in Germany are financially dependent on the government their allegiance is not only to God but to the state and the financial support that it represents.

The Church of Scientology is not controlled financially by any external entity and thus not under the direct control of the German government. It is free to point out immoral conduct of corrupt officials when it sees it. This frightens certain German politicians who fear the rise of a new spiritual force which could lead the population to resist decrees and exploitation. Dishonest and corrupt officials therefore try to depopularize, blacken the reputation of and harass any Scientologist and the Church itself. Thus you get religious persecution as it occurring in Germany today.

See also: Goebbels, Gandow And Caberta

A Medical Miracle

 

There is an interesting article in the New Bern Sun Journal about a Manhattan resident, Jodi Bettis, who had lived near the World Trade Center when it was attacked by terrorists on 9/11 and collapsed.  The article tells of the severe health problems Jodi went through as a result of accumulated build up of toxins from the particles in the air that she was unable to dispel from her body.

Faced with severe health problems, and the inability to get relief, Jodi ended up at the New York Detoxification Project, which uses L. Ron Hubbard’s fabulous detoxification process to cleanse the body of built up toxins.   The article tells about Jodi’s success on the program and how she is helping others by engaging in fundraising to assist others pay for the treatment.

Although I never went through anything like what Ms. Bettis suffered, but because of the drugs, pollutants and chemicals I had been exposed just in the course of living, I did the same detoxification process in a different setting. I found that it had a profound effect on not only how my body felt but I was most impressed with the clarity of thinking and increase of perception of the world around me that I was able to achieve from doing the program intensively for about three weeks to a month.   At the end of the procedure I felt squeaky clean in body and I was able to think in present time rather than through a fog of past drugs.

The New York Detoxification Project is a humanitarian effort that was started by Tom Cruise who wanted to do something about the problems faced by the brave rescue workers and the citizens in New York who were exposed to the deadly poisons that emanated from the disaster site.   

The detoxification procedure that is used in the New York Detoxification Project has a long and successful history and is also used by Narconon drug rehabilitation centers around the world to help get addicts off drugs and clean out their systems of the harmful residues that can lodge in the body and accumulate.

One of the most impressive things about the program is that it is all natural and does not use drugs itself.

I would recommend the procedure to anyone.