I went to see Superman Returns yesterday with some folks I haven't seen in a while. Casting was rather eerie, as the fellow playing Superman looks very much like Christopher Reeve, especially when he smiles. The woman playing Lex Luthor's g'friend bore a distinct similarity to Jamie Lee Curtis. I think there's hope for this guy, although one person said he lacked the "spark" and humor of Christopher Reeve. I don't doubt for a minute that the guy was performing under incredible stress...replacing a tragic star, and being in a movie after playing in soap operas. I think, given time, he'll relax and enjoy the role. I enjoyed the movie. It'll probably do much better than MiIII.

We went out to eat afterward. I was introduced around to people I hadn't met, and my connection with Scientology came up.

Well!

It seems that they all worked in the same office of H&R Block a year ago, and the office manager discovered this fantastic business management program, and went up to Los Angeles for training. She came back weird as hell, grabbing people's hands, looking them in the eye and telling them how "valuable" they were. (one lady said she'd escaped that by avoidance, it creeped her out.)

Then, the manager started pressuring the staff to join her for this training in L.A. My friend couldn't remember the name of the program.

"Was it the World Institute of Scientology Enterprises, aka WISE?" I asked. "That's it!" he said. He looked it up on the web, and found out that it was a Scientology front group.

Meanwhile, the office manager had been made to feel real badly about herself for her inability to just write out a $5000 check for training. Her husband said, "No way!" She pissed and moaned around the office about her financial inadequacy, because if she only had the money, she could do the training and the money would start to pour in. Flow, I believe was the term she used.

Things in the office started falling apart. Personal interaction had become very tense, and the pressure to take these Scientology courses, which everyone by then KNEW was Scientology, increased.

Finally, one of the staff called the H&R Block corporate offices to complain that they were being coerced into this program.

The manager was fired. Her husband divorced her. She's now in Ohio.

So, she went from a successful office manager in sunny San Diego to an unemployed divorcee in Tornado Alley.

Just another Scientology success story... -- -- Spidergraham Chaplain, ARSCC xenubarb@netscape.net

"Comparing Scientology to a motorcycle gang is a gross, unpardonable insult to bikers everywhere. Even at our worst, we are never as bad as Scientology." -ex-member, Thunderclouds motorcycle "club"

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