Email Author Tony Ortega

2011 Stories by Tony Ortega

• Scientology Sunday Funnies: Fresh Meat in the Windy City!

  published Feb 12, 2012

  ​Scientologists don't really have a Sunday service. They like to say that they do, because they crave mainstream acceptance. But unless Xenu rested after six days and L. Ron Hubbard just forgot More >>

• Scientology Dramaturgy: Commenters of the Week!

  published Feb 11, 2012

  ​Things back at the underground bunker are peaceful and calm -- the cats dig the new scratching post, we hear, and they're finally getting some quiet time while we're on the road frantically try More >>

• VIDEO: The Debbie Cook Interview

  published Feb 11, 2012

  We can't remember a time when the attorneys of the Church of Scientology gave up on a case like they did today when they withdrew their request for a temporary injunction that would keep Debbie Cook More >>

• Scientology Waves the White Flag in Texas: The Debbie Cook Interview

  published Feb 10, 2012

  ​I'm sitting in a remarkable conference happening right now with Debbie Cook, her husband Wayne Baumgarten (pictured above), their attorney, Ray Jeffrey, and several other journalists. It's jus More >>

• Scientology vs Debbie Cook, Day 2: More Live-Blogging by the Voice

  published Feb 10, 2012

  ​We're heading down to the courthouse now to begin talking to folks before the action heats up again. Yesterday afternoon, Bexar County district judge Martha Tanner said that she'd begin day 2 More >>

• Scientology on the High Seas: "You Chilluns Will Get Shoes"

  published Feb 10, 2012

  ​NOTE: This is our regularly-scheduled Friday morning feature about L. Ron Hubbard aboard the Apollo. Our second day of reporting from the Debbie Cook hearing begins soon. Please check back for More >>

• Scientology vs Debbie Cook, Day 1: Our Totally Unscientific Handicapping

  published Feb 09, 2012

  ​What an amazing time we had reporting from the Bexar County Courthouse today as Debbie Cook testified in the lawsuit filed against her by her former employer, the Church of Scientology. We got More >>

• Scientology, Deep in the Heart of Texas: The Voice at the Debbie Cook Hearing

  published Feb 09, 2012

  ​Update: For a wrap-up of today's hearing and some analysis of the day's performances, we now have this new piece. Today, former Scientology executive Debbie Cook will try to convince a Bexar C More >>

• Scientology's Gag Reflex: The Church's History of Enforcing a Vow of Silence

  published Feb 08, 2012

  ​Tomorrow, one of the most remarkable legal hearings in the litigious history of Scientology should unfold in a Texas courtroom. Two weeks after filing suit against Debbie Cook, the former exec More >>

• Scientology Headaches: Another Felony Count for Exec; Anonymous Anniversary Saturday

  published Feb 07, 2012

  ​There's so much happening in the world of Scientology watching right now, we can hardly keep up with it all. Most of our attention is being taken up with the Debbie Cook lawsuit and its big hea More >>

• 5 Biggest Lies in Scientology's 2-Minute TV Ad

  published Feb 07, 2012

  ​We keep seeing Twitter reactions as people are stunned to see a 2-minute ad for Scientology show up on network television. We've written earlier about the negative reactions the ad is getting a More >>

• Scientology's Secret Vaults: A Rare Interview With a Former Member of Hush-Hush "CST"

  published Feb 06, 2012

  ​Over the years, we've talked to a lot of former Scientologists, many of whom worked at the church's secretive desert headquarters in Southern California, "Int Base." They were cut off from thei More >>

• Scientology Sunday Funnies: The Denver Miracle!

  published Feb 05, 2012

  ​Scientologists don't really have a Sunday service. They like to say that they do, because they crave mainstream acceptance. But unless Xenu rested after six days and L. Ron Hubbard just forgot More >>

• Scientology Wants It Both Ways: The Church's Opposite Legal Strategies In Florida and Texas

  published Feb 04, 2012

  ​Back in November, the St. Petersburg Times uncorked its best expose of the Church of Scientology yet -- "The Money Machine," a look at Scientology's incredible appetite for fundraising among it More >>

• Scientology Jurisprudence: Commenters of the Week!

  published Feb 04, 2012

  ​The underground bunker might need some new paneling after the way we were bouncing off the walls this week. I mean seriously, how are we going to keep up with all of this Scientology newsr It's More >>

• Scientology Cartoon Tops Reddit: We Talk to its Creator, Abbey Neslen, 18

  published Feb 03, 2012

  ​A "rage comic" created by an 18-year-old college sophomore in Bozeman, Montana has grabbed the attention of Reddit users tonight. At more than 100,000 views, the cartoon, titled "What the Chur More >>

• Debbie Cook's Motion Denied: Scientology's Restraining Order Remains in Place Until Thursday Hearing

  published Feb 03, 2012

  ​As we reported yesterday, Debbie Cook, who is being sued by the Church of Scientology for speaking out to her fellow church members in a New Year's Eve e-mail, filed a motion to dissolve a temp More >>

• Scientology on the High Seas: Squirrel Cookery!

  published Feb 03, 2012

  ​In November we started a new feature here on Fridays: the Voice has obtained hundreds of copies of L. Ron Hubbard's previously unpublished "Orders of the Day," which he gave to crew members as More >>

• Debbie Cook Files to Dissolve Scientology's Temporary Restraining Order: We Talk To Her Attorney, Ray Jeffrey

  published Feb 02, 2012

  ​Yesterday, Debbie Cook began her defense against Scientology's lawsuit which seeks $300,000 in damages because she dared to speak out to her fellow church members in an e-mail sent on New Year' More >>

• Scientology in France: Still Guilty of Fraud

  published Feb 02, 2012

  ​Big news this morning out of a French appeals court, where a decision was handed down regarding Scientology's 2009 conviction for fraud. Scientology watchers around the world have been keeping More >>

• Vi Simpson: The Woman Who Punked The Radical Republicans in the Indiana State Senate and Their Creationist Bill

  published Feb 01, 2012

  ​After interviewing Vi Simpson, the Indiana State Senate Minority Leader, I'm wondering why the hell I haven't already seen this woman on national television or in the mainstream press. I hope More >>

• Indiana Senate Votes to Teach Scientology in Schools

  published Feb 01, 2012

  ​UPDATE: We now have an interview with Vi Simpson, the woman who put Scientology (and other religions) into a Creationism bill in order to neutralize it. Yesterday, Indiana's state senate voted More >>

• The 5 Worst Things Judges Have Said About Scientology

  published Feb 01, 2012

  ​Monday evening, we learned that Debbie Cook, who dared to question the health of her religion, is being sued by the Church of Scientology. That night, Joe Childs and Tom Tobin of the Tampa Bay More >>

• Scientology Sues Debbie Cook Over Her New Year's Eve E-Mail

  published Jan 31, 2012

  ​Monday evening, the Tampa Bay Times reported that the Church of Scientology filed a lawsuit Friday in San Antonio against Debbie Cook and her husband Wayne Baumgarten. The lawsuit, which accuse More >>

• Death of a Scientologist: Why Annie Broeker, Famous in the Church, Had to Die in Secret

  published Jan 30, 2012

  ​Last June, a 55-year-old woman named Ann Tidman died in an apartment in Hollywood. Her own sisters, who suspected that she was ill, did not learn about Tidman's death until just a few weeks ag More >>