Subject:

Tom Tobin

  • Blogs

    September 12, 2012

    Scientology Chooses an Odd Time to Open a "National Affairs" Office in DC

    Today at 6 pm, Scientology will hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a building in Washington DC's Dupont Circle neighborhood. For the last couple of years, Scientology has opened "Ideal Orgs" -- fancy, superfluous new churches in cities around the world in an expensive ploy to make it look like the ... More >>

  • Blogs

    August 2, 2012

    Scientology's Concentration Camp for Its Executives: The Prisoners, Past and Present

    This weekend, we published a two-part story about the rather amazing 32-year Scientology career of John Brousseau, whose adventures included driving for L. Ron Hubbard, spending time in the Sea Org's prison program the RPF, and working in the Cruise household with Tom and Katie Holmes. What seemed ... More >>

  • Blogs

    June 24, 2012

    Scientology Plays Denver's Police Chief Like a Violin

    We recently brought you footage of Sacramento's mayor, former NBA player Kevin Johnson, gushing about Scientology at the opening of an "Ideal Org" in that city. Since that fancy new building opened in California's capital, additional celebrations have occurred in places like Orange County and Denve ... More >>

  • Blogs

    February 22, 2012

    More Scientology Miracles! And L. Ron Hubbard Tells You How to Make a Slave

    Fellow Scientology watchers, we're working on several big stories for you. In fact, we went out of town this weekend on a fact-finding mission, and we are planning to tell you about that soon. But for now, those stories aren't quite ready. In the meantime, we were so happy to see how popular was Mo ... More >>

  • Blogs

    February 22, 2012

    Scientology and the Occult: Hugh Urban's New Exploration of L. Ron Hubbard and Aleister Crowley

    The Rosy Cross, appropriated in a similar form by Crowley and OTO​Last June, we brought you the first review of The Church of Scientology: A History of a New Religion by Ohio State professor Hugh Urban, and then the first interview with the good professor himself. During that interview, Urban ... More >>

  • Blogs

    February 21, 2012

    Scientology Hip Hop: The Melbourne Day Rap Battle Team! (UPDATED)

    We can't get enough of Scientology's rap videos. The latest comes to us from Melbourne, which has been stepping up its game in a big way lately. We recently published mailers from the Melbourne Ideal Org as it celebrated its first anniversary with parties that looked like they were off the hook. Bu ... More >>

  • Blogs

    February 20, 2012

    Scientology's OT Powers! A Hubbard Holiday Miracle

    Scientology watchers, we have a special treat for you this holiday Monday. Recently, one of our readers who is a longtime former Scientologist mailed us a treasure trove: Copies of early Advance! magazines, a complete run from issue 11 in 1971 to issue 56 in 1979. (That's L. Ron Hubbard's photo of ... More >>

  • Blogs

    February 19, 2012

    Scientology Sunday Funnies: There's a Chill Down Under!

    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 to mention it, there's no reason for Scientologists to treat Sunday any differently than every other day of ... More >>

  • Blogs

    February 18, 2012

    Scientology Campout: Commenters of the Week!

    It never seems to be a quiet week here in the underground bunker where we keep an eye on all things Scientology related. The cats had barely settled down from our brief trip to Texas when the bat signal on the Antipodean circuits went off, alerting us to an imminent bombshell. But let's not get ahe ... More >>

  • Blogs

    February 16, 2012

    Scientology's Secret Ranch: Where LRH Will Reincarnate?

    Last week, we had a bit of fun publishing detailed maps to Scientology's super-secret underground vault locations. The vaults are the project of the Church of Spiritual Technology, a hush-hush entity inside Scientology that owns the trademarks and copyrights to L. Ron Hubbard's works, and that digs ... More >>

  • Blogs

    February 13, 2012

    Anonymous vs Scientology: Chanology's Quadrennium in NYC

    We got a little confused by the International Dateline and what not -- hey, you try converting Sydney time to New York and see if it doesn't leave you dizzy -- so that big story we were promising today won't be here for another 18 hours or so. In the meantime, we have this short video we pieced toge ... More >>

  • Blogs

    February 11, 2012

    Scientology Dramaturgy: Commenters of the Week!

    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 trying to keep up with Scientology's ongoing implosion. Things started out quietly enough as we began another ... More >>

  • Blogs

    February 6, 2012

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

    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 their families and the outside world, and became accustomed to living in secrecy. But even these people adopt ... More >>

  • Blogs

    February 5, 2012

    Scientology Sunday Funnies: The Denver Miracle!

    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 to mention it, there's no reason for Scientologists to treat Sunday any differently than every other day of ... More >>

  • Blogs

    February 4, 2012

    Scientology Jurisprudence: Commenters of the Week!

    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 news? It's like this is turning into a real job or something. We started off the week with our regular feature, Sund ... More >>

  • Blogs

    February 3, 2012

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

    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 Church of Scientology did to my family" is a quick success, and has generated more than 900 comments at this po ... More >>

  • Blogs

    February 1, 2012

    Indiana Senate Votes to Teach Scientology in Schools

    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 28-22 to adopt yet another creationism-in-the-schools bill, which have been routinely found unconstitution ... More >>

  • Blogs

    February 1, 2012

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

    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 you see what I mean after you hear what she had to say about the way she crippled the latest Creationism-in ... More >>

  • Blogs

    January 29, 2012

    Scientology Sunday Funnies: May the Force Be With You! (UPDATED)

    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 to mention it, there's no reason for Scientologists to treat Sunday any differently than every other day of ... More >>

  • Blogs

    January 28, 2012

    Scientology Half-Cocked: Commenters of the Week!

    ​It's been another blast of a week here at the underground bunker, where we keep an eye on all things Scientology related. We started off the week by marveling at the "thrill" of Scientology fundraising in our regular weekend feature, Sunday Funnies. On Monday, we collected a few dozen of ... More >>

  • Blogs

    January 27, 2012

    Scientology on the High Seas: Wild Breakthroughs on OT 8!

    ​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 he sailed the Mediterranean. Our documents cover the period from late 1968 through 1971, and this ti ... More >>

  • Blogs

    January 24, 2012

    Scientology: L. Ron Hubbard Still Surfing the Galaxy

    Twenty-six years ago today, L. Ron Hubbard decided to leave his body after using it for 74 years. A young David Miscavige, a Sea Org member who behind the scenes had been clearing the way to become Hubbard's successor as leader of the Scientology movement, announced Hubbard's death to his followers ... More >>

  • Blogs

    January 23, 2012

    Scientology Network TV Ads: More Precious Reactions!

    Scientology's aggressive network TV ad campaign continued last night with another 2-minute commercial that aired on Fox's American Idol right after the New York Giants defeated the San Francisco 49ers to win the NFC championship and earn a spot in the Super Bowl. Poughkeepsie's Michael Farrell was ... More >>

  • Blogs

    January 22, 2012

    Scientology Sunday Funnies: The "Thrill" of Fundraising!

    ​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 to mention it, there's no reason for Scientologists to treat Sunday any differently than every other ... More >>

  • Blogs

    January 21, 2012

    Scientology Viscosity: Commenters of the Week!

    It was an amazing week here at the underground bunker, where we keep an eye on all things Scientology. Let's take a look back at how the week unfolded before we recognize the work of our illustrious commenting community. We starting things out by having fun with the Tone Scale in our regular weeken ... More >>

  • Blogs

    January 20, 2012

    Scientology on the High Seas: The Littlest Sailors!

    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 he sailed the Mediterranean. Our documents cover the period from late 1968 through 1971, and this time we'r ... More >>

  • Blogs

    January 17, 2012

    Scientology's Infinite Pit and Water Wall -- More Crazy Rooms in the Super Power Building!

    We've gone through even more files in the massive leak of plans that describe the soon-to-open "Flag Mecca" in Clearwater, Florida -- otherwise known as Scientology's "Super Power Building" -- and we have more things to show you. In the wild "Perceptics" area on the fifth floor, there's this Heartbe ... More >>

  • Blogs

    January 14, 2012

    Scientology Recon: Commenters of the Week!

    And we thought it was going to be tough to follow Debbie Cook. We're glad that we got those improvements to the underground bunker in place before the new year; we don't know if the old setup could have handled the hurricane-force enturbulation that hit with the coming of 2012. While we were still ... More >>

  • Blogs

    January 10, 2012

    Scientology and Oiliness: More Renderings from the Super Power Building

    Yesterday, we made public a leak of major proportions: we obtained hundreds of new renderings and architectural drawings of Scientology's $100 million "Super Power Building" -- what the church calls "Flag Mecca" -- in Clearwater, Florida. Of all the "perceptics" installations on the building's "su ... More >>

  • Blogs

    January 8, 2012

    Scientology Sunday Funnies: Happiness Coming to a Library Near You!

    Scientology doesn'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 to mention it, there's no reason for Scientologists to treat Sunday any differently than every other day of ... More >>

  • Blogs

    January 7, 2012

    Scientology, Cooked: Commenters of the Week!

    "This Debbie Cook show is just too much!"​If the rest of 2012 is going to be like this first week, the hooch reserves in the underground bunker are going to need some bolstering. Things started off one second after midnight as 2012 began, when our pre-loaded first story of the year, "What is ... More >>

  • Blogs

    January 2, 2012

    Scientology in 2012: Mark Bunker and Mike Rinder Give Us a Preview of Enturbulation To Come

    The new year has already started with a bombshell, but we wanted to get a longer view of how 2012 might turn out for Scientology watching. So we asked a couple of far-seeing church observers to give us their thoughts. We have some fascinating prognostication from Mark Bunker, whose film Knowledge R ... More >>

  • Blogs

    December 27, 2011

    Scientology Shoop of the Year -- The Vote Is In!

    We're continuing our year-end celebrations here at the (newly refurbished and upgraded) underground bunker. Today, we have the voting results for best Photoshopped image as chosen by you, our fellow Scientology watchers. The talented Photoshoppers over at WhyWeProtest.net constantly turn out clever ... More >>

  • Blogs

    December 26, 2011

    Scientology Video of the Year: The Vote Is In!

    We're going to start off our end-of-year celebrations this week by revealing which video you selected as the best of 2011. My thanks to our readers who participated in the poll. We had many interesting videos to choose from this year; some were new, others were rediscovered, and every one made an i ... More >>

  • Blogs

    December 24, 2011

    Scientology Succession: Commenters of the Week!

    [Image blatantly stolen from shoopers at WWP]"Finally, a country that treats its people right!"​We had a feeling that this week leading up to Christmas would be pretty quiet around the underground bunker. And boy, were we wrong! What a crazy week, and it all started Sunday morning with our usu ... More >>

  • Blogs

    December 16, 2011

    Writing OT VIII, a Pot Bust, and More From L. Ron Hubbard: Sailing the Apollo Dec 11 - 17

    ​On November 18, 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 he sailed the Mediterranean. Our documents cover the period from 1968 to 1971, and this time we' ... More >>

  • Blogs

    December 4, 2011

    Scientology Sunday Funnies: Your Tax Dollars at Work

    Scientology doesn'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 to mention it, there's no reason for Scientologists to treat Sunday any differently than every other day of ... More >>

  • Blogs

    November 27, 2011

    Scientology Sunday Service: Mind Control and Your Open Thread

    It's time for another set of Sunday Funnies here at the underground bunker! We hope you enjoy the set of wacky Scientology mailers we've put together this week. The idea is to inspire you to write about whatever you feel like in our open thread. To get you thinking, we've assembled a very disparate ... More >>

  • Blogs

    November 20, 2011

    Scientology, Indubitably: NYC Anons Make Their Fancy Raid on the 46th Street 'Org'

    As advertised, last night's "fancy raid" put on by the local chapter of Project Chanology (the Anonymous wing that protests Scientology) was a sartorial riot. About 20 young Anonymous members showed up with Snidely Whiplash mustaches (even the women!) and with interesting choices in head wear. I ... More >>

  • Blogs

    November 19, 2011

    White House Rejects Scientology Petition: Why That's Not All Bad News

    "Scientology? Ain't touching that one!"​A wail was heard across the land tonight. Just as we were leaving the office for the evening, we were notified that thousands of people who recently signed a White House petition about Scientology had received e-mail notices that the Obama administrati ... More >>

  • Blogs

    November 17, 2011

    Scientology Chillin' With Hip Hop! A Video That Cannot Be Unseen

    Oh my. Another jaw-dropping video produced by Scientologists for internal use has made its way to the outside world. Take a look, and after the jump we'll tell you what we've been able to find out about this latest testament to Scientology hipness.

  • Blogs

    November 16, 2011

    Scientology Watching Gets Fancy!

    ​New York City's local Project Chanology brigade -- the branch of Anonymous that messes with Scientology -- has kept up its nearly four-year mission by turning protests into fun and comedic events. In the summer, we wrote about NYC anons turning 46th Street into a beach party -- including 300 ... More >>

  • Blogs

    November 13, 2011

    Scientology Sunday Service: Your Open Thread For November 13

    ​Last week, we started something new here at the underground bunker, and it was a smashing success. We brought back the tradition of Sunday Funnies, in this case materials produced by Scientology organizations, which tend to be unintentionally hilarious. We then opened up the comments section ... More >>

  • Blogs

    November 6, 2011

    Scientology Sunday Service: Your Open Thread For Worship (Or Whatever)

    ​We're trying something new in the underground bunker this morning. It's that first dawn after the clocks have changed here in the U.S., and we find ourselves with an extra hour to play around with. Naturally, our minds turn to things Miscavigey, and we can't help wondering what you, our loyal ... More >>

  • Blogs

    October 18, 2011

    Scientology Petition Going to the Wire: Will Obama Be Forced to Say Something?

    Will Obama be made to speak on Scientology?​For the last few weeks, we've been inundated here at the underground bunker with our tipsters urging us to write about an online petition that would force the Obama Administration to say something publicly about the federal government's apparent inac ... More >>

  • Blogs

    October 13, 2011

    Scientology "Ideal Orgs" Laid Bare In Our Thursday Stats Roundup!

    It's that time of the week again -- at 2 pm on Thursdays, Scientology orgs turn in their stats for the week, and so we like to do our own accounting of how things went for the church with our weekly roundup. After the jump, an eye-opening look inside an "Ideal org" by our sister paper in Phoenix. ... More >>

  • Blogs

    October 11, 2011

    Scientology and Disconnection: "No One's Going to Take My Eternity Away"

    Lori Hodgson keeps telling me she's going to give me the entire story of her time in Scientology. Well, I'm still waiting. In the meantime, she talked to Mark Bunker for his upcoming movie Knowledge Report, and this morning he released a segment of that interview. For those of you still confused ... More >>

  • Blogs

    October 5, 2011

    Johnny Depp and Vanity Fair: Confused About Scientology, Or Just Trolling?

    ​Vanity Fair magazine is teasing its November issue with an excerpt from its interview with Johnny Depp, timed to promote his new movie, Rum Diary. One utterance from the Pirates of the Caribbean star has been picked up and flung around the Internets with requisite chuckling -- Depp appears t ... More >>

  • Blogs

    September 30, 2011

    Scientology's SF Leaker Talks: We Ask Amy Scobee to Interpret

    Lauren Smiley has been publishing a terrific series this week at our sister paper, SF Weekly. Smiley first reported on September 8 that the very active Anonymous chapter there, Chanology SF, had received e-mails from someone inside Scientology's "org" who went by the handle "ethicstrouble." Ethic ... More >>

  • Blogs

    September 22, 2011

    Scientology Overseas: More Bad News in Australia, Israel, and the UK

    Chris Guider, the latest Scientology executive to leave and say that David Miscavige gets slappy​Reporter Steve Cannane e-mailed this morning to alert us to a story on Lateline, a program on Australia's ABC network. The piece describes the defection of yet another Scientology executive who say ... More >>

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