It was a dark and stormy Saturday down at the org on Hastings Street in Vancouver. But scads of people were out, and so were we.

We brought hundreds if not thousands of people uptone with our very positive picket signs and very positive presences. Dozens of people came by to find out what we were picketing and to take one of our flyers. We must have revitalized the city for blocks around.

One woman came out of the building to hand out copies of a new scn publication "Voice of the Volunteer Minister: The Volunteer Minister's Newspaper Issue 1 © 2001 CSI Gerry charmed her out of a copy and contributed it to the International Archives. [images on a.b.s.: voice-of-the-vm-issue1.jpg and 2001-12-8-cl2.jpg ] From Voice of the Volunteer Minister: The Volunteer Minister's Newspaper Issue 1 © 2001 CSI <start fair use quote>

THE PLANET NEEDS YOU
DO THE VOLUNTEER MINISTERS COURSE
<end quote>

Question: What planet? Although the Scientologists will never state this truth, at ground zero, and at every disaster from the beginning of disasters, it has been wogs who have done the rescuing and the dying and the mourning and the healing. That's who the planet needs.

Losing potentially fine, caring, truly helpful wogs to an anti-wog cult is criminal.

We had some actual contact by a scientologist who spoke on the subject of the picket. His name is Ty-bor or Ty-borg, we weren't sure which, but we hoped it was Ty-borg, so Ty-borg it is. I asked Ty-borg his last name but he wouldn't say. It may be that his last name was simply Borg. Anyway, Ty-borg *confronted* us with some very unusual questions. He began with a series of questions such as, "How many people die in hospitals a year?" and "Why aren't you picketing them?" How many people in Canada die from prescribed drugs? Gerry gave him his best estimates, and nope, he was wrong on all numbers. But Ty-Borg had the numbers right at the tip of his analytical mind. We didn't really get a chance to ask Ty-borg any questions about our actual common interest, the Scientology enterprise's antisocial policies and practices, because he was unyielding on his intention to get his own questions answered, and because he was called away by persistent staff after a number of his refusals, in his persistence at his TR-3, to answer the call.

Sheesh, Ty-borg, what do you say that Scientology get together with its internet opposition and create a virtual picket of *all* the world's wrongnesses *including* Scientology's own wrongnesses. That's a doingness which would result in havingness now wouldn't it?

Gerry told him that we were doing a Lisa McPherson Memorial Picket, and Ty-borg responded that he had "studied her case and she died of a blood clot." That's why it was so odd when Ty-borg seemed to want to impart information of a medical nature about "my daughter." Later, I realized it was simply that he had mistaken me for Lisa McPherson's mother. Obviously he didn't know she was deceased. Well, perhaps it wasn't so odd, given the fact I was picketing with the same sign as I picketed with on earlier pickets. It was kind of a tense few minutes when I kept on demanding that he explain what he meant by "your daughter's medical information." At first, I thought he was being exceptionally cruel in his bullbaiting, but it was just a case of mistaken identity. I gave Ty-borg a copy of our handout, and pointed out which side of the handout had to do with my daughter, Ann. As Ty-borg disappeared back into the scn building, he encouraged me to study the Lisa McPherson case. I did not get a chance to properly encourage Ty-borg to study up on my demands as well, but hopefully he will read this and feel encouraged.

Pictures, etc.

Certain circumstances being what they were, we elected to have a coffee break before we actually started picketing. There's a great little coffee shop just down the street from the organization, and so Gerry thought we could get away with doing a plug for Blenz and Xenu Air. 2001-12-8-ga7.jpg We were befriended for a good part of the picket by a man named Ray, who sponsored the second official coffee break for Vancouver's Memorial Picket. Thanks Ray!

2001-12-8-ga4.jpg.

2001-12-8-ga6.jpg--a lttle more of the local action in Vancouver.
2001-12-8-ga3.jpg--shows the Vancouver organization's flyer handout.

2001-12-8-cl3.jpg VP--volunteer picketeer.
-----------Handout for 12-8-2001 Picket----------
LISA McPHERSON ANNUAL PICKET OF $CIENTOLOGY

This is the Vancouver part of the sixth annual international picket of the Scientology cult in memory of Lisa McPherson, a beautiful young woman who was locked up by the Scientologists in their "spiritual headquarters" in Clearwater, Florida, kept under guard, restrained, and mentally and physically abused for 17 days, until she died in their "care" on December 5, 1995.

See: http://www.lisamcpherson.org/ Scientology claims she went psychotic in their "care;" whereas evidence supports the conclusion that Scientology locked her up and ultimately she was killed because she represented a "security risk" to the organization. $cientology has paid millions to the "best" lawyers and "experts" their money can buy to evade criminal and civil liability.

$cientology is infamous for its basic legal policy of "using the law to harass," and using the cost and duress of litigation to "ruin utterly" anyone who opposes them in court. I have been sued five times by Scientology and the organization and its lawyer army have attempted on dozens of occasions to have me prosecuted on false criminal charges. In the Lisa McPherson case, the organization, after abusing and killing her, has now sued her estate.

Lisa was a vulnerable, isolated, overwhelmed, destroyed and almost forgotten woman, who Scientology silenced. The organization seeks to silence, through abuse of the justice system, through threat, and even through imprisonment, or death, any voices which criticize its abhorrent practices and its antisocial nature. Founder of $cientology, L. Ron Hubbard, calls for critics to be "shuddered into silence."

These pickets around the world, are a voice for Lisa, and a statement to Scientologists to not be shuddered into silence. This global cult seeks to cover up the Lisa McPherson tragedy and we seek to keep the story alive until Scientology opens up its files and books and gives up all its secrets of abuse and criminality.

I was myself locked up, on the direct order of Hubbard, inside the organization, and was in the RPF, Scientology's prison system, (see:

http://www.innernet.net/joecisar/rpf1000.htm) also on his order, for 17 months, in the same building in which Lisa died. I saw many people locked up because they were considered a "security risk," even just for asking to leave the cult.

I was inside the organization for 12 ½ years and left on December 12, 1981. Since then I have been what Scientology calls "fair game."

Although this practice has been judicially and governmentally condemned for over 30 years (see, e.g., http://holysmoke.org/ga/breck.htm (search for "fair game") it continues to this day against people like me who oppose and seek to reform Scientology's antisocial and dangerous policies and practices.

In early 1997, I discovered that Scientology had obtained its IRS tax exemption in the United States, by fraud and by a personal, libelous attack on me. As a result, I came to Canada, where the organization is criminally convicted, and where I am free to communicate about this matter, and about my experiences in and with Scientology. In the U.S., through the fair gaming of my lawyer, through manipulation of the justice system, and for the cost of millions of dollars, Scientology has been able to obtain orders jailing me and warrants for my arrest, just for relating my experiences in this "religion."

I want Scientology to completely mend its ways, to do an absolute about-face, to meet with opponents like myself instead of trying to obliterate us, to allow everyone to speak freely, think freely and come and go freely, to cease forever the philosophy, policy and practice which views human beings, or as they call us, "wogs," ® as automatically inferior, and thus fearful, and thus meriting being lied to, cheated, sued or destroyed. For good information on $cientology, go to http://www.xenu.net.
Gerry Armstrong
46109 Princess Avenue
Chilliwack, B.C.

V2P 2A6 Canada
604-795-5852
armstrong@dowco.com
[side 2 of handout]
Why I Picket $cientology
[image of the picket] I got into the cult on January 1, 1975 at the Vancouver organization. My daughter, Ann, was born in 1977. Though I left the cult quietly in 1999, she is still in the cult and has now been ordered by the cult to "disconnect" from me.

In April 2001, $cientology forced my daughter, Ann, to break ties with me after an essay I had entered into the Lisa McPherson Trust Literati contest won a prize and was published on the Internet. The essay was entered under the pseudonym "Anti-virus" as I wished to remain anonymous and avoid repercussions from $cientology for its critical content on $cientology.

The essay is here:

http://www.lisatrust.net/scientology/essays/literati/00-antivirus.htm $cientology is very well known for aggressive, even criminal actions against critics of organization practices.

$cientology operatives spent approximately six weeks to identify the writer of that essay, and eventually correctly that I was the person behind the pseudonym "Anti-virus." They were so sure of my identity that they never contacted me personally to verify that I wrote the essay. Instead, they ordered my daughter into their organization and used their "scriptures" and mind control tactics to convince her that her mother was totally insane. They had her call me from the organization, from one of the bureaus responsible for enforcement and punishment, to disconnect from me, that is, to cease communicating in any way and to write off any mother-daughter relationship for the rest of her life.

Since leaving $cientology, I have experienced a gradual, and sometimes shocking, waking up to the deep and pervasive fraud, and psychological and physical abuse in the cult, and its inbred antisocial, even criminal, nature. My daughter was born and raised in $cientology, but my family situation is far from unique. Families very often get broken up and estranged when $cientology is involved, because this organization permits no critical thinking about its many bad and dangerous practices, and because its only response to criticism is to attack the critics.

Decoding Scientology Propaganda: http://www.entheta.ca/caroline/ Affidavits:

http://www.entheta.ca/caroline/dec1.html
http://www.entheta.ca/caroline/dec2.html
http://www.entheta.ca/caroline/dec3.html
Sincerely,
[signed]
Caroline Letkeman
104-9275 Mary Street
Chilliwack, BC
V2P 4H5 Canada
carolinel@telus.net
----------end handout----------
________________________________________
decoding scientology propaganda
http://www.entheta.ca/caroline/
caroline letkeman *antivirus*
________________________________________

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