H. Keith Henson
2237 Munns Ave.
Oakville, ON L6H 3M9 Canada
905-844-6216
hkhenson@cogeco.com
February 8, 2001
Hon. Patrick Leahy, Chairman
U. S. Senate Judiciary Committee
224 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Tel: (202) 224 - 4242
Fax: (202) 224-9102
senator_leahy@leahy.senate.gov
Senator Patrick Leahy
199 Main Street, 4th Floor
Burlington, VT 05401
Tel: (802) 863 - 2525
Fax:(802) 658 - 1009
Hon. Orrin Hatch, Ranking Minority Member
U. S. Senate Judiciary Committee
147 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Fax: (202) 224-9516
senator_hatch@hatch.senate.gov
Senator Orrin Hatch
8402 Federal Building
125 South State Street
Salt Lake City, UT 84138
Tel: (801) 524 - 4380
Fax:(801) 524 - 4379
Honorable Chairman and Senator Hatch:
I presume you are aware of the letters from Mr. Graham Berry and others regarding the Scientology cult. There is also a petition on the Internet with some 1100 signatures asking for the same investigation.
http://www.lermanet.com/reference/GrahamBerry/criminalcomplaint.htm
http://holysmoke.org/cos/docs/gb-ashcroft-complaint.htm
http://www.freedomofmind.com/groups/scientology/scientology.asp
http://www.lermanet.com/reference/GrahamBerry/lettertoAndrewCard.htm
In 1998 I sued the IRS over the illegal 1993 "closing agreement" the IRS made with Scientology. Last week Judge Silverman, sitting on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in the appeal of Sklar noted:
" . . . . An IRS closing agreement cannot overrule Congress and the Supreme Court.If the IRS does, in fact, give preferential treatment to members of the Church of Scientology -- allowing them a special right to claim deductions that are contrary to law and rightly disallowed to everybody else -- then the proper course of action is a lawsuit to put a stop to *that* policy. "
My suit on this very point was dismissed in the District court for "lack of standing" and upheld on appeal by the same Ninth Circuit. This is only one of *many* legal anomalies where Scientology is involved.
As a result of my whistle blowing and Scientology's pervasive influence in Hemet, California on the District Attorney's office and the courts I was convicted of "interfering with a religion." The sentence I face is solitary confinement for a year in jail or probable death by Scientology agents. Such is the cost of exercising First Amendment rights by peacefully protesting the deaths that occurred two years ago at their desert compound.
I am now in Canada awaiting a hearing by the Immigration and Refugee Board. It lies within the judicial power of that board to find that the US is harbouring a terrorist organization--so defined in a 1991 Time Magazine article "The Cult of Greed and Power."
It might be noted that Scientology was convicted as a corporation in Canada for infiltrating a number of government agencies and stealing 40 files cabinets of government documents.
Sincerely,
(signed)
H. Keith Henson
Enclosures:
one page: http://www.primenet.com/~cultxpt/irschosen.htm
one page: http://www.operatingthetan.com/irs/