I went down to protest the Washington DC org yesterday, October 28th. I had a new sign "Stop Hurting Families, Scientology" and "Stop the Abuse and Deception." I was earlier than the others, arriving at 12:20. I began handing out my Why I Protest flyers (http://parishioner.org/why.html) and over the course of the day I gave out about 300.
I had no handlers for a half hour. Eventually the handlers were Sylvia Stanard, Thierry Duchanac and Justin Clark. Justin is the PES, not OSA.
Sue Taylor was present, but didn't say anything, even when I asked her how it went in France. Thierry came in late, I guess he was called in from home. No sign of Donya, Michelle, Matt or John Terbush. They also had two body routers. I saw one couple and another guy go in during the protest.
The couple came out later, took my flyer, and took a picture with me. I asked if he passed the personality test, and he said "no." He sais he was mostly on the side of the protesters, but wanted to hear both sides.
Arnie and Lisa showed up at about 1:30 and we took a coffee break. Then back to protesting with Arnie's large "Cult Zone" sign. Jim showed up later with "Honk if Scientology Sucks" which brought a lot of honks.
Justin and some pals got in a van, drove by and shouted "Honk if Scientology doesn't suck" and honked the horn. Pretty silly.
This protest saw the introduction of "leaf blower tech". A young staffer began to blow some leaves from the side of the wall in front of the org.
But after the leaves were gone, he kept blowing and blowing. He blew the same two leaves for about 15 minutes. It's a loud blower, so the introduction of "accidentally stepping on the power cord tech" was introduced and proved to be a superior technology. Sylvia came out and told the guy to get off the corner where there were no more leaves, and do the rest of the sidewalk. I think she was embarrassed by her org's actions.
I was told several times by Sylvia and Thierry that they have decided I am not evil. I am deluded, but apparently sincere. Arnie isn't evil either, but would be if he wasn't insane. I didn't hear an opinion on Lisa or Jim.
I discussed Saint Hill size with Sylvia. I told her about the new 40 staff SHS letter. She thought they must have gotten it wrong, as far as she knew it was still 250.
Course break at 3:30 brought many glum looks and evil stares from the smokers outside. We all packed it in at 4:20 and went to the traditional place for blue cheese burgers, the Childe Harold.
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Rod Keller / rkeller@voicenet.com / Irresponsible Publisher / Black Hat #1
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