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“In the days of the Malleus, if the physician could find no evidence of natural illness, he was expected to find evidence of witchcraft: today, if he cannot diagnose organic illness, he is expected to diagnose mental illness.” (1) The Malleus Maleficarum was a 15th century text which instructed Inquisitors on the proper method of identifying, trying and burning witches. Though it was many years ago that renowned psychiatrist Thomas Szasz (1920-2012) used the example of the Malleus to comment on the diagnostic practices of his fellow physicians, it seems he might have been on to something as today psychiatrists...

“It is customary to define psychiatry as a medical specialty concerned with the study, diagnosis and treatment of mental illnesses.” But according to prominent psychiatrist and academic Thomas Szasz MD (1920-2012) “…this is a worthless and misleading definition.” “Mental illness is a myth. Psychiatrists are not concerned with mental illnesses and their treatments. In actual practice they deal with personal, social, and ethical problems in living.” (1) Szasz write that “…the notion of a person ‘having a mental illness’ is scientifically crippling. It provides professional assent to a popular rationalization—namely that problems in living experienced and expressed in terms of...

"No, I think that people get that idea because Will and I are very relaxed with one another," replied the actress and mother of actor-singers Willow, 12, and Jaden, 14. The 41-year-old star then continued of the "persistent" rumor: "But I've always told Will: You can do whatever you want as long as you can look at yourself in the mirror and be okay," she said, without going into further specifics. "Because at the end of the day, Will is his own man," she said of the Men in Black star. "I'm here as his partner, but he is his...

I knew that the Scions had LOTS of money and have infiltrated in the past. But they are still at it with various 'front groups' (just like the mafia). Where in the heck is 'Anonymous' on this?

Update: Two small adjustments to this story were made to clarify the relationship between Common Core and school districts. A parent in upstate New York is claiming there is some disturbing information being taught to his child as a result of a Common Core-aligned lesson on government and human rights. (Common Core is the controversial standardized curriculum program being advocated for by the federal government.) The latest example, he says, is that his daughter and her classmates are being taught a section on the 30 “universal human rights” declared by the United Nations in 1945. Those rights include: • The...

The Church of Scientology has lashed out at a new book by its leader's niece, which recounts a stolen childhood and how she was brainwashed and cut off from her family before eventually escaping. In "Beyond Belief: My Secret Life Inside Scientology And My Harrowing Escape," Jenna Miscavige-Hill -- whose uncle David Miscavige runs the secretive group -- also claims she was forced to work as a child. But a spokesman for the Church said her claims were "false" and denounced "efforts to exploit Mr Miscavige's name." "The Church has long respected the family unit while accommodating and helping those...

Inside Scientology Sat 02-23 Jenna Miscavige Hill, niece of Church of Scientology leader David Miscavige, was raised as a Scientologist but left the controversial religion in 2005. She joins John B. Wells to share her true story of life inside the upper ranks of the sect, and her ultimate escape. In the first hour, investigative journalist Wayne Madsen will comment on the mysterious death of Philip Marshall and provide various news updates.

Dick Morris is gone from Fox News. Meanwhile, Karl Rove has been given a new multiyear contract. But why? A Fox News spokesman said only that the network chose not to renew Morris' contract. It's not hard to figure out why. Morris was glaringly wrong on the outcome of the 2012 presidential contest, predicting often and loudly that Mitt Romney would win in a romp. Funny thing is that Karl Rove was conspicuously wrong about the presidential results, too. Rove just wasn't as vociferous as Morris, except on Election Night. Even respected conservative elections analyst and commentator Michael Barone called...

Hubbard’s famously paranoid worldview is extensively documented here as well. When a negative reputation began to taint Scientology worldwide, he launched what was perhaps his most grandiose and outrageous scheme. He called it the Snow White Program. Starting in 1973, Wright asserts, Hubbard placed as many as 5,000 Scientologists as spies in government agencies all over the world, charging them with unearthing official files on the church, “generating lawsuits to intimidate opponents, and waging an unremitting campaign against mental health professionals.” In the United States, Wright says, the spies penetrated the IRS; the Justice, Treasury and Labor Departments; the Federal...

Scientology leader David Miscavige has been trumpeting his church's “milestone year,” but the mysterious religion is alienating scores of its most faithful followers with what they call a real estate scam. With anger mounting and defectors fleeing, this may be more than a fleeting crisis; it may be a symptom of an institution in decline. It's cold in Buffalo, and signs of the housing recovery are hard to see. Take the long walk down Main Street and you'll pass foreclosed homes, a shuttered hospice, and more than a few yellowing FOR SALE signs. But make it downtown, and you'll see...

A secret bunker hidden deep within the deserts of New Mexico is reported to be the "alien space cathedral" of the Church of Scientology, according to the author of a new book on Scientology. The site is marked by a large symbol etched onto the desert floor: two diamonds surrounded by a pair of overlapping circles, according to the British newspaper The Sun. A private airstrip, built to serve the controversial church's leaders, is within walking distance of the symbol. The entire complex is located near Mesa Huerfanita, N.M., roughly two-hour's drive from Santa Fe, N.M., and three hours north...

Skook's Dogs of Conscience Many people have an overwhelming desire to belong and identify with groups that offer exclusivity. Some of us want to identify with exclusive country clubs and others choose the religion of a science fiction writer, whose church, the Church Of Scientology offers the secrets and knowledge of the church for a price, Yes, for thousands of dollars, the church and its theological justification reads like a science fiction novel, and you can be a cowboy as well. From a 2003 Speech by Michael Chrichton: There’s an initial Eden, a paradise, a state of grace and unity...

The relationship between U.S. actor Tom Cruise and Scientology leader David Miscavige is so close the lines between them are blurred, an ex-Scientologist said. Former Scientologist Steve Hall, who headed the church's marketing division for 20 years, said Cruise could have been seen as a victim of charismatic leader Miscavige when he became a Scientologist, but not anymore. "There's a point of no return, and I think Tom has crossed it," Hall told The Hollywood Reporter. "The time for him to leave was a long time ago. The lines between him and Miscavige are so blurred now." Former Scientologist Karen...

In the wake of publicity over the movie “The Master” and Tom Cruise’s divorce, the Church of Scientology opened its national office last week in Washington, D.C., drawing support from Houston Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee and other officials. “I want to thank L. Ron Hubbard for recognizing that courage is not rewarded but it is valued. And to be able to have the wonderment of people coming together and ensuring that people come together for peace. That’s what I see in the Church, that you have come together for peace. I welcome and support that,” Jackson Lee is quoted during...

Three U.S. congressmen and a top-level government official attended the opening of the Church of Scientology’s National Office in Washington, D.C., Thursday. Their attendance marked a significant endorsement from members of a government that was once partially at war with the organization. Lawmakers in attendance were Texas Democratic Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, Indiana Republican Rep. Dan Burton and Illinois Democratic Rep. Danny Davis. Liz Gibson, Senior Program Manager at the Federal Emergency Management Agency was also in attendance. Jackson Lee applauded the organization. “I want to thank L. Ron Hubbard for recognizing that courage is not rewarded but it is...

According to a forthcoming article from Vanity Fair, before Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes fell head over heels in love with each other, the Church of Scientology went through an internal audition process to find Cruise a new girlfriend. The big audition process is the crux of a forth-coming article in the October issue on the church's role in the Cruise-Holmes partnership from Vanity Fair's special correspondant Maureen Orth. Orth reports the church vetted members of the church in a top secret auditing process to try and find him a mate that was already in the church: Scientology embarked on...

The controversial Church of Scientology is coming under criticism from multiple women who all say they were forced to have abortions. The Church has been a source of debate since its founding by American science fiction author L. Ron Hubbard.Adding to the debate, the Church of Scientology is now facing accusations from scores of women who say they are been pressured or coerced into having abortions against their will – and Laura DeCrescenzo, a New Mexico resident, is leading the way with a lawsuit against the “Church.”The Village Voice newspaper has a lengthy article on her struggle: All told, over...

When Katie Holmes filed for divorce from Tom Cruise, not only did she cause one of the biggest breakups in recent Hollywood history, she also created a panic among Scientologists. But Holmes isn't the first big-name celebrity to cause a stir in the church. The long list includes actresses, producers, and singers—some of whom have lashed out at the religion after their fallout. We've compiled the stars who once practiced the religion, those who have spoken out against the church, and those who considered following Scientology. Plus, see who considered joining the religion including Ricky Martin and the King of...

A letter from Cruise attorney Bert Fields obtained by THR claims the actor could lose hundreds of millions of dollars over a 'disgraceful and lurid' story. Tom Cruise's lawyer is threatening to sue the National Enquirer over a cover story that claims the actor is a "monster" who "abused" wife Katie Holmes and subjected daughter Suri to a five-month stay in a "tiny, windowless room." In a blistering letter sent July 11 by longtime Cruise attorney Bert Fields to Enquirer publisher American Media, a copy of which was obtained by The Hollywood Reporter, Fields claims the tabloid's most recent cover...

The centre, located near the church's West Coast headquarters in Hollywood, would occupy the nearly five-acre studio property the church bought last year from Los Angeles public TV station KCET for $42 million (£27 million). The station would elevate the public profile of a religion that has mostly relied on pamphlets and books by its founder, L. Ron Hubbard, to proselytise for new members. "The church plans to establish a central media hub for our growing world network of churches and to move into the production of religious television and radio broadcasting," said Karin Pouw, a spokeswoman for Church of...

The Church Of Scientology allegedly believes it's most famous celebrity convert Tom Cruise has telekinetic and telepathic powers, it has been reported. Tom, 50, is the most famous follower of the religion and an investigation by Rolling Stone back in 2006 revealed that he had reached an advanced level of Scientology and was known as an ‘Operating Thetan’ or an ‘OT’. The author of the investigation, Janet Reitman, explained that OTs ‘have total control over themselves and their environment.

*Snip* It is another point of subtle confusion that both Churchs are – to their advantage, but perhaps even more to their peril – bound to a famous son. And they each, to a considerable degree, take on the character of their most famous adherent. Curiously, they also risk taking on aspects of the other’s big name. Weird and frightening Tom and robotic Mitt seem like generic cult characters. If cult-like religions speak to each other, it may be, in an ultimate conspiracy, that the Mormon leaders, now more than ever fearful of cult backlash, called up their Scientology counterparts...

So for those of you who don’t know me I posted at Free Republic as Dengar01 from September 15th 2001 till I opused and 2 months later after questioning the finances of Free Republic my account was zotted. When I first came up with the idea of this thread I emailed TBL, NOTA and a close friend here for their opinions. I then expanded to email some ex-FReepers who were run off the site by some of the most vile creatures on the planet. Some who made up handle’s at TBL to continue their cult like obsession. I was stalked...

Sinister strangers in SUVs following you around 24/7. Men in dark glasses recording your every move. Your mind probed, your sanity questioned, your loved ones spied on. Katie Holmes, welcome to my world. I would not want my children to be brought up in the Church of Scientology — I have actually had nightmares about that — so I think I can understand a little of what Katie is going through; why she feared what might happen to her daughter Suri if she had stayed in the church that likes to wear dark glasses. Poor Suri — a six-year-old girl...

Heber Jentzsch, when he was still allowed to breathe free air UPDATE: HOLMES-CRUISE DIVORCE SETTLED. So far, looking like how we predicted it in our previous story. This morning, more than 10,000 Scientologists found an e-mail from Karen de la Carriere in their inboxes, written in jargon that they will understand, and informing them of the controversy surrounding the death of her son Alexander Jentzsch. As we reported first on Thursday night, de la Carriere learned about the death of her 27-year-old son more than two days after he was found, unresponsive, at the home of his in-laws in...

Tom Cruise’s fellow Scientology members would like to master “The Master.” A source familiar with Paul Thomas Anderson ’s film about the founder of a Scientology-like religious movement tells us officials of the controversial church group “hit the roof” when they learned — presumably through Cruise — that the movie contains a scene which suggests the belief system was little more than a product of the leader’s fertile imagination. In May, Anderson, who is friends with Cruise and directed him in “Magnolia,” the 1999 film that earned Cruise a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination — reportedly screened his film for...

Scientology leader David Miscavige is often cited as Tom Cruise's best friend. He was best man at Cruise's ill-fated marriage to Katie Holmes and once threw the star a huge birthday party. But the numerous references to Miscavige left out one really sketchy detail: his wife, Shelly, hasn't been seen since 2006........ The New Yorker's Lawrence Wright reported that last year Shelley has been missing since 2006 and "her status is unknown." Just before she went missing, she had supposedly filled several job vacancies without her husband's permission. Misbehaving Scientologists have been known to allegedly be locked up in "The...

Awash with money, beautiful people and lawyers, the film industry makes it easy for stars to break their wedding vows. But not everyone does. It was clear from the start that things wouldn’t work out between Hollywood and marriage. In 1919, Rudolph Valentino, the first real star of the silent era, wed actress Jean Acker. It lasted six hours. A standard was set that the movie business has been trying to live up to ever since. “Get married in the morning,” the old studio hands used to say. “Then, if it all goes wrong, you haven’t wasted the whole day.”...

The Church of Scientology is trying to contend with the greatest scandal its ever seen--the impending divorce of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes. Media sites are reporting that Holmes is leaving Cruise because he planned to indoctrinate their young daughter, Suri, and send her to a camp for young Scientologists. The church sent out an email instructing members on how to "stand up for their religion" and instruct sites like Microsoft and Google to take down anti-Scientology content. Marty Rathbun, a former Scientologist who now blogs against the religion, posted the email. It's from the Office of Special Affairs, which...

He is the reclusive and enigmatic leader of the world's most famous cult who played best man at TomKat's wedding. But perhaps the biggest mystery shrouding Scientology chairman David Miscavige concerns his wife, Shelly, who has not been seen since 2007. Once a leading Scientologist herself, Shelly Miscavige is even credited as the cupid to Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes' doomed alliance. Always by her husband's side, it was her to whom Mr Miscavige turned when a lovelorn Cruise begged for help in finding love following the break down of his second marriage to Nicole Kidman. Believing the role of...

Tweeting first, “Scientology back in news. Very weird cult, but big, big money involved with Tom Cruise either No. 2 or 3 in hierarchy,” and then, “Watch Katie Holmes and Scientology story develop. Something creepy, maybe even evil, about these people,” the News Corp. CEO waded into the morass and basically declared himself Scientology Enemy No. 1. Many were shocked—why the hell would Rupert Murdoch, of all people, get involved in this? But a close Murdoch ally noted, “He has a long memory and no love for Scientology.” ...... Lachlan soon terminated his friendship with Cruise and made it clear...

The eldest son of Rupert Murdoch has denied he ever considered joining Scientology after reports emerged claiming Tom Cruise tried to convert him. Lachlan Murdoch was assiduously courted by the Hollywood star in 1999 while they were both living in Australia, according to the Daily Beast. Cruise, who had moved to live near his then-wife Nicole Kidman's family, was said to be determined to bring the younger Murdoch into the Scientology fold, believing that he would soon take over his father's media empire. Cruise reportedly traveled with Murdoch and his friend James Packer on private jets, all the while evangelizing...

It is Scientology's higher order where members pledge their allegiance for one billion years - and may have cost Tom Cruise his marriage. Sending six-year-old Suri to the Sea Organisation, or Sea Org as it is known, is what is said to have been the final straw for Katie Holmes before she filed for divorce. The group is run like a military clique from the Scientology Gold Base in California which has sniper-style nest bunker that overlooks the entire property. Members are paid just $50 a week and banned from leaving their base or they are tracked down by a...

Rubert Murdoch has a lot of Thetans perturbed with him. That’s because the founder and chairman of News Corp., which owns Fox News and the Wall Street Journal, among other media properties, tweeted Sunday that there is “(s)omething creepy, maybe even evil, about these people.” Murdoch was referring to adherents of Scientology, like actor Tom Cruise, who prefer to think themselves as “Thetans” – a term coined by L. Ron Hubbard, the cult’s founder – rather than “people.” Murdoch followed up his original tweet with another reporting that his twitter account had been bombarded with “hundreds of attacks” from Thetans....

She’s a prisoner in her own home. Katie Holmes fears she can’t take one step without a Scientology goon following her every move in a heavy- handed intimidation attempt, multiple sources close to the actress told The Post yesterday. The pretty actress last night was holed up in her Chelsea pad — terrified that soon-to-be-ex-hubby Tom Cruise might kidnap their little girl, law-enforcement sources said. Holmes told another building resident of her abduction fear — and that neighbor called police on Friday, sources said. But without Holmes phoning in the report herself — and Cruise known to be 2,600 miles...

<p>Rupert Murdoch, New Corp. chief executive... took to Twitter on Sunday to weigh in on the breakup of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes.</p> <p>"Scientology back in news," Murdoch tweeted. "Very weird cult, but big, big money involved with Tom Cruise either number two or three in [hierarchy]."</p>

On Friday, TomKat jumped the couch. Katie Holmes filed for divorce from Tom Cruise after 5 1/2 years of marriage. Best-selling biographer Andrew Morton, author of "Tom Cruise: An Unauthorized Biography" (St. Martins Press), explains why it was a true Hollywood romance --because from the beginning, Holmes was playing a part. When Tom Cruise turned 42, his best friend, controversial Scientology leader David Miscavige, threw a lavish birthday party, costing an estimated $300,000, on board the church’s cruise ship. He flew in singers, dancers and even Tom’s favorite sushi chefs for the bash, where the actor was serenaded with the...

After five years of marriage, Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes are getting a divorce, PEOPLE has learned exclusively. "This is a personal and private matter for Katie and her family," says Holmes's attorney Jonathan Wolfe. "Katie's primary concern remains, as it always has been, her daughter's best interest."

-snip- New Line/Warner Bros’ Rock Of Ages (3,470 theaters) is falling to earth with a thud. Which Hollywood expected because the pic had been tracking poorly for weeks (and even went down at one point week to week). The studio felt the 1980s period piece was a hard sell to younger moviegoers. I suspect the problem was casting. Russell Brand has been repellant to moviegoers, while Tom Cruise as iconic rocker proved just too incredulous for audiences.

The Church of Scientology, known for celebrity and controversy, is now in the middle of another public relations crisis as a former high-ranking official has created a firestorm, first with an email to church members and then testimony in a Texas state court alleging she saw the church's leader punch another executive in the face, and that at his direction she herself was slapped. For 17 years Debbie Cook ran the church's spiritual mecca, the so-called Flag Base in Clearwater, Florida, where she ultimately rose to the title of captain. But Cook testified this month that beginning in 2005 she...

A senior Scientologist was locked up, beaten and tortured by the controversial religion's tyrannical leadership, a court has heard after an attempt by the Church to silence her spectacularly backfired. Debbie Cook, who was one of the organisation's most respected executives before she quit in 2007, testified that she was held for 45 days in a crowded, ant-infested trailer in the California desert. The 50-year-old also claimed to have witnessed Scientology chairman David Miscavige, a friend of celebrity follower Tom Cruise, punch another senior executive in the face before wrestling him to the ground.

Rick Santorum’s trio of victories ...is shifting the Republican presidential contest into a state-by-state fight for delegates that could last much longer than initially anticipated. The battle appears to be breaking down along regional lines, with Santorum gaining momentum in the Midwest, Newt Gingrich resonating in the South and Mitt Romney faring best in the Northeast and elsewhere... For now, all four candidates are on a hunt for delegates, each with an incentive to stay in through the next several contests. Gingrich and Ron Paul were already pledging to stay in the race for the long haul, and both have...

So a guy whose contract was terminated by NPR on a phony pretext for not toeing the liberal line enough, including writing a book ("Enough: The Phony Leaders, Dead-End Movements, and Culture of Failure That Are Undermining Black America--and What We Can Do About It") which indicted the modern civil-rights movement for, well, undermining Black America, now appears to want eliminate "Constitution" and "Founding Fathers" from the lexicon of Republican candidates -- and possibly, it would appear, from political discussion in general -- because, well, they're racial code words. How ironic. Two weeks ago at the Fox News/Wall Street Journal...

For most people, an extended stay aboard a luxury cruise liner sounds like a dream vacation. But Valeska Paris says she was held against her will aboard the Scientology cruise ship "Freewinds" for more than a decade. During her stay on the vessel, she alleges, she was forced into hard labor and never allowed to leave the ship without an escort. In an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's (ABC News) Lateline program, Paris claims that Church of Scientology leader David Miscavige sent her to the ship when she was 18 in order to prevent her family from pulling her...

I guess that makes me a Scientologist, because I’ve posted repeatedly that Palin holds a special position because there is no one — not even George W. Bush — who has been the subject of the Democratic, mainstream media and left-blogosphere smear machine to the extent Palin has. So yes, I do take it personally when conservatives lash out at Palin not because of her policy positions or what she’s done or not done in her career, but with personal invective. It’s not religion, its a cold hard understanding of what is to come, and how those who call Palin...

The Church of Scientology is a notoriously difficult subject for journalists. The press has long been considered an enemy of the church, which was founded half a century ago by science-fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard. (To give but one example, in the 1950s, Hubbard wrote that TIME's purpose was to "cause riots and disaffection.") In a new book, Inside Scientology: The Story of America's Most Secretive Religion, author Janet Reitman tells the fascinating history of the mysterious organization and its members. "I have sought to understand Scientology: not to judge, but simply to absorb," she writes. "What I have found...

01 July 2011 The Moscow Times A Moscow region court has declared books and brochures by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard as extremist, the Prosecutor General's Office said in a statement Thursday. The Shchyolkovo town court, at the request of local prosecutors, ruled that Hubbard's book "What Is Scientology?" and "several other" brochures "call for extremist activities" and include "humiliating characteristics" of people depending on their social status, the statement said. Hubbard's essays are "aimed at forming an isolated social group" whose main task is to "fight the rest of the world," it said. The works should now be placed...

In a speech at Colorado Christian College earlier this week, Sarah Palin laid out a five-point set of standards by which the United States should commit its troops to military action. Bearing the palpable influence of her new foreign policy adviser -- Peter Schweizer, a scholar at the conservative Hoover Institution who has been on SarahPAC's payroll for less than three weeks -- Palin's criteria for military action seemed at first glance to be less aggressive than the hawkish foreign policy she has consistently espoused. As recently as February, Palin had been among the first prominent Republicans calling for a...

What is is about Governor Sarah Palin and the media? Last night she was in DC to give a speech and thus could not attend the White House Correspondents Dinner. She DID go to two after parties to meet some people and catch up with her daughter Bristol who was in town for the dinner. But what is fascinating to watch is how the media (all of them!) just can't get enough of Governor Sarah Palin. They were all taking pictures of her with themselves for souvenirs and writing about her. She was prominent in the Washington Post coverage, Politico...

Other than knowing it was pretty much started on a dare to L. Ron Hubbard, my understanding of the Church of Scientology is that I don't have any. None. It doesn't make any sense. Its illogical, and just because a bunch of celebrities flock to it for attention doesn't mean it deserves a seat at the religious roundtable. In light of all of that, it's clear to me that Donald Trump is Republican Scientology, and I think it was born in a similar way.... Trump was sitting with some friends in a Manhattan penthouse one night a few weeks...