A few days ago Graham Berry gave me a call and told me Keith Henson's wife was in town, and would I like to picket?

Since so much has gone down re Tom Cruise, etc, I decided although it was short notice and not enough time to alert the masses, why not do a small picket?

We met as usual at the Sizzler, and it was great to see Arel, and Graham, and to my surprise, Michael Pattinson joined us! Michael showed us his new E-book, which he gave us each signed copies of, and Graham and I bought one more, being his 2nd and 3rd customers! He's just begun promoting, and the book looks fabulous. If you haven't gotten a copy, I'd highly recommend getting one, especially while they're new and fresh off the press. Ok...so back to our picket....

First we each ate, and shared stories of our lives, and all that has occurred since we'd seen each other last.

While eating and enjoying ourselves, Ron Norton came in. For those of you who remember him, and those of you who never knew him, Ron Norton in the '80's was BIG TIME.

You'd always see him in full Sea Org Navy Uniform, with the gold braids, etc. He was quite something, and was high up in the organization. Now? He was in jeans and a white t-shirt. Michael mentioned it was him, so I yelled out: "Ron Norton?"

He turned around, came over, I re-introduced myself....shook his hand and told him I was with all these SP's :) He said quietly, "I know" and I asked if he was still "In"> He said "Yes, of course" ...and walked away to go sit and eat alone. I couldn't help but think how sad he looked, all alone. He was such a bounding, booming guy. Now he looked quite thin, and not happy.

I explained my theory to Michael, about how we may as well be nice to them, as we basically are nice people, and what's the point of returning the flow of OSA's Nastiness? He agreed. After we ate, he strolled over to say "hi" to Ron, too. Now, without the rest of us there, his true Sea Org self came out as he said to Michael: "Fuck off". Delightful, eh? Oh well......time marches on.

So we then headed for the Complex to picket. Graham, Arel and I had picket signs, Michael was just walking with us, talking to people, which he was ~very~ effective at.

For years, since I've left, I've been writing here on ARS to the Executives "Crams" as they call them, telling them how they are violating their own very basic principles when we com around. In the past they've sneered at us (Out TR's, and Out Manners, Out Way to Happiness, and low toned as they'd say), or hid inside.

Today I could tell they've been corrected on this, as person after person would smile as we'd say "Hello", and they'd say "Hello" back. That's a big change. Are they melting? Naw....my guess is they had some program come down, and now they're all using "ARC" (Affinity, reality, Communication) ~or pretending to~~but not really as each had to zoom by fast.

The joint was pretty empty. We came at a perfect time when the staff were just let out to go have dinner....so we made it a point to picket in front of them. One never knows what actually is going on. We could feel the buzz as the security rode their bikes round and round. Another guy was out on his cell phone. Up in a window we found some clown with a camera taking pictures of us, no doubt for RFW.

One girl came up and asked me,' What abuse?" As my sign said, 'Scientology: Stop the Abuse!"

I explained various abuses, and she then retorted with, "Why don't you find out what Scientology really is".

I said trust me, I did. I spent 30 years in it, was an OT 7, Michael was an OT 8, and also I was a Grad 4 auditor, and an OSA volunteer for 20 years, on and off. She looked quite surprised and walked off.....as another walking by yelled, "Yeah.....you left due to your overts". One of the security madly wrote down what I said, so they can "handle her" later...and I pointed that out to her.

Graham took a bunch of pictures, and had on the OT 3 T-Shirt! We stayed I guess about a half hour? Anyways, we both signed a breath of fresh air that we are both out of there! Arel and Graham I'm sure were thrilled they'd never joined. It's just SO robotic, and scio/Truman show like.

Ok, so time to move on....so we headed up to Highland and Hollywood Blvd, down from the Testing Center. There are tons of young people there, and adults, too. As we walked down the street, now I brought "Honk if you think Scientology is a CULT".......and the horns began blasting.

The other amazing thing was how many people walking would give us high 5's or "Honk Honk Honk!" It was astounding to us how many people now know what's going on.

Some didn't, and asked us about it. One couple said they were just at Scientology last week, had bought some Dianetic tapes, and could I tell them what I thought. Could I??? Are you kidding me? I used to put on Dianetic Seminars. I'm a Dianetic Professional Auditor. Yes, I could tell them, and I did. Will they be back next week? I highly doubt it, but I did give them some homework, OSA, which you can try to stop: READ THE INTENET. Go look, read, learn find out for yourselves :)

Tons of people came up to each of us with their own stories of Weird Scientology situations. We all talked after and agreed it's always funny, as they'll start with, "You'll NEVER believe this but....." And of course we're like...ya....WE will Believe it!

My favorite two stories of the night were these:

1) I met a guy who looked like he may be homeless. He was pulling a bag of stuff, and stopped to tell me this guy he knew had been locked up within Scientology, where they said he was mentally ill, and he wasn't. Scientologists will make fun of me even talking with such people, but I always did even when I was "in". To me, People are people....and I am always amazed at their true spirits.

Ok, so since he's on the streets and I can tell knows many people there, I tell him I want him to pass on www.xenu.net to anyone who wants to know the other side of their BS. Suddenly he whips out a PDA...and begins typing. I'm amazed, and ask if he's having trouble typing it in? "No man, I'm just logging onto the Internet..........hang on. Ok, got it! Cool....I'll pass it on. Say hi to your friend, Andreas! Great site!"

Amazing, huh? What a world we live in :)

Next favorite (besides seeing my friends, Arel, Graham, and Michael) was a young lady who came bounding up.

"Hey cool. Did you know Hubbard was connected to Alester Crowley and Jack Parsons?" I said yes, I did. She was surprised and then said, "Well, my X-husband is the Grandson of Jack Parsons". I asked if he had some cool stories, and she said, "Most definitely". So we agreed I'd call her later, and see if we might be able to get him on tape.

Many of the neighbors asked us to "Please, please come do this more often, will you?" We agreed we would. It was a gorgeous night, filled with people,and I'd say 70% were with us, knew Scientology was a cult, and as I've said, many had their own stories with this odd group pretending to be a religion.

We went to Mel's Diner for a snack before each heading our ways home. There we walked in with our signs pointed down, and people were still saying, "Honk! Honk!" Our waiter gave us quite a long talk about Scientology and it's flaws, why people shouldn't EVER join, etc. We 4 just sat, amazed. Who do they (Scientology) think they're fooling?

We all agreed, we HAVE to do this more often, for many reasons. The public are totally up for it. If you haven't tried it in your town, give it a shot. We only had 4 people...and it was a blast!

My thanks to all who were involved, and OSA? Keep up those crams...it really is better for all involved. Some were a little willing to talk (not much, but a bit), and you look and sound far less strange than you used to, although I doubt it's "Stable".

I know all you really care about is keeping those people roped in, and my guess is this is part of your 'Handle' for people who read the Internet. "We're not stopping free speech............make sure to say "hi" to SP's....they're just people with big overts". I remember the drill well. Ya think that is working? From the calls, I do not :) -- Tory/Magoo~Dancing in the moonlight~ In Scientology for 30 years, out happily for 5 years! For thinking and speaking my mind, I am: Declared SP and Expelled from C of S (Woo hoo!) (SP 6 ^ with Cumulative Cluster) Free at LAST! For more information about this, please see: http://www.xenu.net http://www.xenutv.com http://www.torymagoo.org http://www.lermanet.com/cos/toryonosa.htm http://www.altreligionscientology.org

magoo44@charter.net "Those that give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." -- Benjamin Franklin

Burbank, CA (818) 841-3632

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