in which I present my paper to AoIR

Friday October 10 I presented my paper on Anonymous (http://www.lisamcpherson.org/pc.htm) to the Association of Internet Researchers conference in Milwaukee.  There were 4 presenters in our session and we each had 15 minutes to present and 5 minutes of questions from the audience.  About 25 people were in our session, which I thought was pretty good.  I basically summarized Project Chanology history, showed my comparison to the Civil Rights movement, and listed questions that arose from my study.  I used powerpoint and tried to inject some Anonymous-style graphics and humor.

There were a few presentations about online activism during the conference.  I learned a lot and met very nice people.  It made me wonder if I really want to get into the academic field, however.  The presentations were often, to me, of minutely useful topics, and it seems that the goal of academics is “what can we talk about next” rather than “what can we accomplish next.”  I guess it’s their role to be thinkers more than doers, so I shouldn’t complain.

http://www.aoir.org

is Scientology fraudulently fundraising?

This disturbing article claims that Scientology is asking their members to contribute to the Super Power building project, and then using the money for other projects.  Is that not what put Jim Bakker in jail?  Plus, they’ve raised $140 million for a project they themselves claim would cost $90 million to complete, according to the figures presented.  It looks like they’re trying to weasel out of that quandary by claiming the new funds are for administration of the project, rather than the building.

This is a lot of money, and therefore a lot of fraud, if that’s what’s going on.  Investigate!

Scientology banned from editing Wikipedia

The case — the fourth Scientology-related dispute on the site in four years — opened in December 2008 and closed Thursday with the Wikipedia arbitration committee voting unanimously to block IP addresses associated with the Church from editing the site.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/05/29/wikipedia-bans-scientolog_n_208967.html

Tory Christman said while she was in Scientology she ran around opening accounts at various service providers that Scientology operatives used for purposes she did not know.

APA finally speaks out against CCHR

http://www.medpagetoday.com/MeetingCoverage/APA/14276

I always wondered why the American Psychiatric Association didn’t speak out more strongly against Scientology’s Citizens Commission on Human Rights. CCHR is essentially a hate group seeking the eradication of all of psychiatry. They even had a graphic of a grenade blowing up psychiatry. I hope the APA continues to speak out against this hate group.

Scientology-hired security wrongly roughs up Anonymous protester

http://www.wsmv.com/video/19400255/index.html

I think somebody’s in trouble…

my torture page

http://www.lisamcpherson.org/torture.htm

Just trying to stick everything useful in one place.

We tortured. It’s illegal. We need to go after the torturers. Can’t be much simpler than that.

hero lost; soldier refused to torture

http://bit.ly/szRkd

My web site lisamcpherson.org is about a person wrongly killed who should be remembered. This article in Huffington Post is about another woman who should be remembered.

Peterson, 27, a Flagstaff, Ariz., native, served with C Company, 311th Military Intelligence BN, 101st Airborne. Peterson was an Arabic-speaking interrogator assigned to the prison at our air base in troubled Tal Afar in northwestern Iraq. According to official records, she died on Sept. 15, 2003, from a “non-hostile weapons discharge.”

But it was a suicide. She refused to torture. I salute her and pray for her.

Scientology’s failed building programs

http://forums.whyweprotest.net/12-active-projects/list-buildings-bought-still-vacant-41222/4/

This reminds me of the small cult I was in back in the 1970s. We only had about 200 members and never really grew much. But then one day the pastor had a vision from God of a new church building. So we moved to a corner lot on a hill with room for a big building, and the fundraising began. Pretty much all our efforts from then on were toward the building. Sermons were preached of the walls of the new building being covered with crutches and other medical devices no longer needed from all the healings going on (there were pretty much no healings going on without the building). The sermons continually
stressed that amazing things would happen once the building was done.

Rich people would become members and donate a lot of cash for even more amazing projects. Government officials would join. Many miracles would happen.

In the end, the church had a huge split, the congregation kicked out the pastor, and the people who remained traded their unfinished miraculous biulding with an Assemblies of God church that really was growing. The church is barely limping along today.

So what the pastor had done was to seek glory in a huge building since his little flock refused to grow by itself. Same thing DM is doing. He doesn’t have any stats to crow about, so he invents some stats. “We have a new building here, and are almost finished with our huge
project here, and by gosh, we’re expanding!” No, their property holdings are expanding is all.

And I wonder if you couldn’t call DM the Bernie Madoff of religious leaders? He promises some huge payoff if you invest in his plan, but in the end all the investors have is huge debt and empty promises.

KESQ Palm Springs series on Hemet Gold Base

http://www.kesq.com/Global/category.asp?C=162474

My only question; why did it take 30 years for the local media to investigate what goes on at Scientology’s secret base near Hemet?

A great enturbulating weekend

I protested in Tustin Saturday morning, LA in the afternoon, and Hemet on Sunday.  It was great fun.  Tustin was fun with chalk art (where the head of the org came out and tried to smear out the word “Xenu”) and fun costumes.  There were I think 6 of us receiving lots of horn love.

In LA there were fewer protesters than I expected, but I did get there late. There may have been 30 when I was there.  One guy had a 4-foot working volcano he was wheeling around. Another had a huge helium balloon advertising a free phone number for staff who wanted to leave to get help.

In Hemet we went from 12:30 to 6pm.  There were about 30 here which I’m sure is a record.  The Anons found the Eagle’s Nest lookout post high on the hill behind the compound with some huge binoculars.  I took some video of it.  The Balloon guy came too and walked his balloon up and down the road, which means it was visible anywhere in the compound!  Will Scientology have deadly anti-balloon drones next time?

The first two times we walked up the road, Scientology turned on their sprinkler system. This was bad because we can only walk along the curb, and they had the sprinklers spraying into the road! Besides that, there is a water conservation ordinance that they are violating.

About 20 of us went out to dinner after.  As I went by the compound to head home, it was lit up for some reason. Many of the flood lights that point to the fencing were lit up.  I don’t know if this is unusual or not because I don’t think I’ve ever been by there at night before.

Lookout – http://www.vimeo.com/3694965

sprinkler tech – http://www.vimeo.com/3706200

my pics – http://www.lisamcpherson.org/gold_picket.htm