AUDIO: “Touch Me,” Creepy Scientology Goon Repeatedly Tells Protester

“Touch me” the man says again and again. “Touch me.”

In what should go down as one of the most skin-crawling audio tapes in recent Scientology history, we hear a church operative repeatedly challenge protester David Love to provoke an incident so that Love can find himself in a world of legal hurt.

Too smart to take the bait, Love calmly continued his picket of Scientology’s Montreal “org” yesterday, and didn’t let on that he had a digital recorder in his jacket running during the incident. After the jump, he tells us more about this recording.

In April, we wrote at length about Love’s remarkable one-man campaign against Scientology in Canada, which resulted in getting Scientology’s Narconon drug treatment facility in Trois-Rivières, Quebec shut down by government authorities.

He’s also targeting Scientology’s Montreal “org,” and is planning to file an official request to have authorities review its property tax exemption, he tells us.

But what prompted yesterday’s protest, he says, was a new bylaw in Quebec that bans the wearing of masks during protests. Now, suddenly, the local contingent of Anonymous members who usually picket the Montreal org wearing Guy Fawkes masks have been stymied. So Love — who doesn’t bother with a mask because he’s already so well known to Scientology — decided to carry out a picket on his own yesterday.

“Now the 20 other Anons won’t protest, so I filed a human rights complaint against the city and police. The police and I get along well and are glad I filed so that they can have the law interpreted,” he says.

Love briefly videotaped his activities, but put down his camera as he picketed outside the Montreal facility. Then, he was approached by a man who sounded angry.

“He was about five foot eleven, balding, in his 50’s,” Love says. “His face went bright red.”

In a very Canadian exchange of charming accents and quaint epithets (“fuck a duck“, the Scientologist says), the two square off. Repeatedly, you’ll hear the man say “touch me” in the oddest way.

No, he didn’t want a hug. What the man was doing was a classic Scientology ploy, trying to get Love riled up enough to push or punch the man, which would then be used to arrest him and make him the target of a civil suit. (We’ve seen the strategy used time and again by Scientology’s goons.)

Although we don’t see the man’s face during the encounter, the recording of his voice is crystal clear and really quite remarkable. It may be the most interesting reaction to a protester since New York org president John Carmichael told a protester “I smell pussy” while a video recorder was rolling in 2008.

Meanwhile, in further Narconon news, the heat is being turned up on the drug treatment company’s headquarters in Oklahoma even before Love has had a chance to head down there, as he has vowed to do.

Wednesday night, the Oklahoma City Fox affiliate began a two-part investigation of the Narconon Arrowhead facility, where three patients have died, and under questionable circumstances. Here’s the first part of the series…

In last night’s part two, Fox’s Marisa Mendelson interviewed a state official who said that there is an open investigation of a complaint against the facility, but wouldn’t go into specifics.

Also, let me just add, if the Fox affiliate in Oklahoma City is on Scientology’s ass, we seem to have reached some sort of tipping point as far as how badly this organization is nosediving. Just sayin’.

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Scientology on the High Seas!

In November the Voice 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 Atlantic and the Mediterranean on the yacht Apollo. Our documents cover the period from late 1968 through 1971, and this time we’re looking at what was happening the week of May 27 through June 2 during those years.

This week, the Commodore gets closer than ever to the big answer…

1969

May 29: LRH at his most charming.

Daily Report

Thank you for your Daily Report. We keep these all filed. Quentin wanted to know on his yesterday if I actually read them so I had a Commodore’s Msgr route him out at midnight to tell him yes!

Poor Phil Vratari. He was first mate yesterday, got a lot of cycles done. Also got a $1000 diamond ring back, put it in his shirt pocket, leaned overboard and Old Man Sea grabbed it. So we’re anchored on a $1000 Diamond Ring 32 feet down! (It could never be found in this mud and Tide).

Phil did a good job cutting a rope out of the Portuguese boat prop.

Captain Bill fixed my bubble octant which had a variable error. Did a very good job of it. So stars can be shot all night long now instead of just sunset and sunrise.

The ship is looking much neater. People are picking up and handling outnesses and get cycles done.

After 3 evenings of C/Sing mostly horrible sessions (because the main DAC people were in Cramming and getting ready to leave) I finally had some very good session folders tonight. The guys we are sending out will be able to do the job. They have my confidence.

LRH, COMMODORE

1970

May 31: Planet cleared by 1973! We can do it!

SHIP REVENGE

I made a derogatory comment about the current abilities of Flag. Promptly the ship itself started getting even with me!

A hot water line burst and flooded a corner of my cabin. My bridge cabin got varnished without being properly scraped down and wasn’t available. I got no real sleep and had a bath one finger deep and dressed in a torn up repair area.

I hastily and humbly apologize to the ship, admit my overt and will mend my ways!

Three bows and the sign of the triangle to Apollo!

I hereby warn all snipes, sailors, stewards, officers, mates and midship mites that it doesn’t pay to abuse, revile, mock or insult the ship or she will take her revenge!

…

OT Grades

I have been working for some time now on the oddity of one or two of the OT grades in that some people consider one of them endless. I think I have spotted what this is after much work and we are now testing it out. It will greatly speed up AO traffic if all goes well.

There have been several major developments since 1970 began. Of those released the most spectacular of these in results and letters from the field have been the Group Engram Intensive and the Interiorization Rundown that gets people past having exteriorized and lets them get up into further grades.

Discoveries in the field of management tech such as the Management cycle and the Logic — the Data Series, will make a big difference when generally applied.

Finding that orgs had thrown the subject away and forbidding several grades at once was a major penetration of observation.

Actually, tech — on both the 1st and 3rd dynamics is proceeding at lightning speed. And early teach and books are coming into their own also.

If everyone on Flag and on station ships know and wear their own hats well and insist on the fellow next to him wearing his, we have a potentially brilliant future. First and Third Dynamic Tech was never better, or orgs are doing well. We can greatly improve our actions and lines.

If we can continue to best the enemy and get things running right we will really E-X-P-A-N-D.

It took 100 years to abolish slavery. We are 20 years up on abolishing barbarism in psychiatry in a much faster moving age.

If we keep at it and get better on our own jobs and get the breaks, I give us three years to have full command of the situation.

…

LRH, COMMODORE

1971

June 1: LRH nears his greatest discovery ever! Give the man some peace!

PTS

I got in a marvelous long search period yesterday. Search is not over the terrain you cover that has been blueprinted and mapped. It is straight into the unknown. Often when you have your hands on something strange and there’s a sudden distraction, you get a blow up.

I am looking for the very exact cause of PTS in order to raise our FEBC successes above 85.5 percent.

Already great progress has been made. And yesterday I found a phenomena we’ve never before seen as such. In 1945 and 1955 I noticed bits of it but never put it together.

Mainly now, the work out of application must be done. I know what causes it. Now all I have to do is work out how to apply it which is the easier part.

As this has to do with physical illness as well, it may be a rapid advance in this field. It is the first major tech advance into new ground since ’67.

So thank you for the quiet I got. A few more of these and we’ll have even more planet.

LRH, COMMODORE

More 1970s Awesomeness!

While L. Ron Hubbard was moving HQ from the yacht Apollo to the Florida coast, Advance! magazine was thrilling Scientologists with its tales of “OT Phenomena.” Those church members who had reached the higher levels of spiritual training shared their stories of superhuman powers with fellow dupes — er, enthusiasts. This excerpt is from Issue 35, November 1975. (And another cover featuring a photo by the Commodore!)

On a recent business trip to California I awoke one night rubbing my eye. There was a sharp, painful something in it. After trying for an hour to get it out — an eyecup and all the usual means — I was almost ready to go to an emergency hospital but decided first I’d have a go at not-ising it. No way! It pained too much to let me sleep. There was no one there to help or give an assist so I “got into” my eye myself and started pushing. Wow! I could feel it move. Down the eyeball, under the lid and out. Asleep in a few minutes.

Later on the trip, camping, I picked up a small propane stove and got a nasty burn on one finger. No comm lag this time. I got into the finger, found the area, and realigned what looked like a small knot of randomity. The pain stopped instantly and, where before was a blister, only a small shiny spot remained. — Herb Williams, OT VII

These OTs and their amazing self-healing adventures. Color me nunplussed. Advance! 35’s OT Phenomena section was definitely underwhelming, but there’s one more treat from the issue we wanted to share with you — its back page. How could any Scientologist resist this temptation to go full OT?

That’s good stuff. Make sure you check in with us Sunday morning for our weekly feature, Sunday Funnies, and this week we also have a special treat: Scientology wins a major award, again! For other schedules and updates, make sure to check our Facebook author page.

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Tony Ortega has been the editor in chief of the Village Voice since March, 2007. He started writing about Scientology in 1995. You can catch his alerts at Twitter (@VoiceTonyO), at his Facebook author page, on Pinterest, and even this new Google Plus doohickey.

New readers might want to check out our primer, “What is Scientology?” Another good overview is our series from last summer, “Top 25 People Crippling Scientology.” At the top of every story, you’ll see the “Scientology” category which, if you click on it, will bring up all of our most recent stories.

As for hot subjects we’ve covered here, you may have heard about Debbie Cook, the former church official who rebelled and was sued by Scientology. You might have also heard about the Super Power Building, Scientology’s “Mecca,” whose secrets were revealed here. We also reported how Scientology spied on its own most precious object, Tom Cruise. (We wrote Tom an open letter that he has yet to respond to.) Have you seen a Scientology ad on TV lately? We debunked some of the claims in that 2-minute commercial you might have seen while watching Glee or American Idol.

Other stories have looked at Scientology’s policy of “disconnection” that is tearing families apart. You may also have heard something about the Sea Org experiences of the Paris sisters, Valeska and Melissa, and their friend Ramana Dienes-Browning. We’ve also featured Paulette Cooper, who wrote about Scientology back in the day, and Janet Reitman, Hugh Urban, and the team at the Tampa Bay Times, who write about it today. And there’s plenty more coming.