I hope I'm not tipping anyone's hand here, but this series of documents provided by MH is a playbook for anyone considering or is seeking some legal action against the Church.

Don't infer from this that I'm calling it the gospel of all criticisms.

It's value is contained in the way that it's organized--in the way that lawyers think and operate.

Justice and retribution are fine and good, but without an effective legal game plan the litigator stands to fail. I believe Minton failed because he was ill-prepared for the game he got into.

The critic movement (if there really is such a thing) would move light years forward if there were well-prepared lawyers involved. I hate saying that, as I have no great love and respect for the legal profession, but they do have the skills to get particular jobs done.

Now, I'm not advocating legal action against the COS (for the record-wink, wing, nod nod), as I wouldn't wnat to be perceived as one who wants only to incite discord. However if someone wanted to pursue such an avenue (which I'm not endorsing) I think the only chance of real success would to be to have a lawyer on your side who's an ex-Scio who knows how the legal game is played, knows as well how the COS plays the game, and also thoroughly understands the pertinent legal issues and therefore knows where the weak points are.

Make no mistake that the COS legalistas know where they're most exposed.

Common sense would indicate that the areas where they fight the hardest are those areas where they stand the most to lose should someone manage to breach their legal barricade.

I don't want to destroy anyone's naive views of justice, but it's seldom about the law and what is right. More often it's about how well you can manipulate the legal system. The COS has become masters of this game,and I honestly don't know if there are any contenders out there who can match their legal savvy. But I think the Ottmann documents may have laid down the gauntlet for such a fight to begin.

Murray Luther

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