B'nai B'rith magazine article on CoS and Germany
Ron Newman
_B'nai B'rith International Jewish Monthly_, a publication of
B'nai B'rith International. I am posting it here with permission from the
author and publisher.
This is the cover story; the cover headline is "Scientology seeking
Jewish help over Germany". The three cover photos show a October 1997
march of Scientologists in Berlin, down a wide highway with forest on
either side.
--------------
Wooing the Jews
Its "Never Again" campaign has stopped.
But the Church of Scientology still wants Jewish support in Germany.
by Toby Axelrod
When German Chancellor Helmut Kohl visited Australia in July 1997, he was
greeted by jeering Scientologists in Nazi-style uniforms with swastika
armbands. They confronted him with placards reading "Hands Off Our
Religion" and "Is Germany Really A Free Country?"
The protest was part of Scientology's fight for recognition as a
religion in Germany, a status that would bring significant tax benefits.
Not only does Germany refuse that request, but also the government actually
sees Scientology as a danger that must be curbed.
In response, the Church of Scientology in Germany has, for years,
linked itself with the treatment of the Jews under Hitler, claiming the
shared experience of persecution. Scientologists say members have lost
jobs, and children have been removed from schools because of their faith.
The German government says the charges are at best exaggerated and at worst
false.
Germany recently got a boost from United Nations special
investigator Abdelfattah Amor who, in April, rejected the church's charge
of persecution in Germany, and called the comparison between modern Germany
and Nazi Germany "so shocking as to be meaningless and puerile."
Though church President Rev. Heber Jentzsch says Scientology's
comparison of its treatment in Germany to that of the German Jews under the
Nazis has officially stopped because of objections from Jewish leaders, the
theme still threads through Scientology publicity.
The comparison with Nazi Germany has irked not only mainstream
Jewish organizations but also high officials of both the U.S. and German
governments as well, who call it an insult to all Holocaust victims.
The Scientology campaign against Germany really took off after the
United States granted the organization tax-exempt status as a religion in
October 1993. The Internal Revenue Service's decision followed two decades
of litigation by Scientology. In contrast, Germany has refused to call
Scientology a religion, instead, labeling it a business with
anti-democratic leanings built on the dependency of adherents. To prevent
Germany from falling into fascist hands again such groups must be carefully
watched, says the government.
"In Germany, everyone can believe what they want, even if it is
nonsense," says Anne Rühle, who heads Berlin's Senate [city council]
department on sects and psychogroups. But when a group leads to
"psychological or financial dependency and to the inability to act
autonomously," it is in conflict with protected freedoms. "Scientology fits
that description."
So Germany conducts surveillance, tries to bar Scientologists from
government jobs and the major political parties, and warns the public to
beware. In response, the Scientologists accuse Germany of showing the very
tendencies toward fascism the government claims to fear.
Scientology's anti-Germany campaign appears to have backfired.
Intensifying in 1994 with full-page newspaper ads using images from the
Holocaust and continuing into late 1996 with a letter to Kohl from
Hollywood celebrities in the International Herald Tribune, Scientology made
more enemies than friends.
Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League of
B'nai B'rith, called the ads a "trivialization of the Holocaust." U.S.
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright termed the comparison "historically
inaccurate and totally distasteful," and even former State Department
spokesman Nicholas Burns, whose agency has criticized Germany's treatment
of Scientologists, called the assertions "outrageous."
Chancellor Kohl simply said, "Those who signed [the Hollywood
letter] don't have a clue about Germany and don't want to have a clue." And
Ignatz Bubis, head of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, recently
called the whole campaign "a scandal."
Yet the "scandal" may have had some success. As a German from Hesse
recently complained, "Americans don't know where Frankfurt is, but they do
know that Scientologists here are persecuted." In November 1997, days after
a German Scientologist won asylum in the United States on grounds of
religious persecution, Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel launched a
counter-campaign aimed at explaining Germany's position to U.S. citizens. A
German government pamphlet cites a 1995 German federal case in which the
words of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard were used as evidence: "Make
money, make more money-make other people produce so as to make money." The
court said Scientology uses "inhuman and totalitarian practicesŠto make the
individual psychologically and financially dependentŠ."
To protect his state, Bavarian Interior Minister Günther Beckstein
already in 1996 had added Scientology to the list of what he called
"totalitarian, cynical organizations," including some neo-Nazi parties, its
members barred from civil service jobs like teaching and police work.
In March 1997, Federal Labor Minister Norbert Blüm had decreed that
Church of Scientology-owned businesses be marked with an "S" in ministry
computers, so job seekers are not placed with such firms. In response,
Jentzsch recalled the Nazis' stamping of Jewish passports, saying, "All
that differentiates Norbert Blüm from his Nazi predecessors are eight
letters of the alphabet-those that come between J and S."
In June 1997, Bonn began a year of surveillance of Scientology
organizations in Germany and invoked its most controversial laws, "for the
protection of the Constitution." The laws allow for mail interception,
phone taps, and use of undercover agents to establish whether the
organization is a fascist threat. The surveillance has been extended past
its June 1998 deadline.
"Who the hell are they to point their finger at us?" rebuffs
Jentzsch. He calls "the screaming rhetoric of Beckstein
Šsheer, utter, unadulterated madness."
As for the "Never Again" campaign, Jentzsch says it was stopped
more than a year ago, and he called the Australian demonstration an
aberration. "We made a mistake early on by making this comparison. It was
offensive to the Jewish people." He says some rabbis agreed to back him on
the discrimination issue, but that they also told him, "'You have to
understand how we feel with anything that deals with something so horrific
as the Holocaust.'"
So the campaign stopped, but that doesn't mean the Church of
Scientology has stopped trying to win the support of Jews.
Jentzsch names as one sympathizer Rabbi David Saperstein, director
of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism in Washington, D.C..
According to Jentzsch, Rabbi Saperstein told him that "if anyone
understands human rights and discrimination, the Jewish people do. We are
on your side."
Rabbi Saperstein responds that, "While I never made this specific
comment attributed to me, nonetheless I am always sympathetic when people
are subject to discrimination or persecution, religious or otherwise."
Foxman of the Anti-Defamation League says Jentzsch has tried to win his
support. "But," says Foxman, "they are not going to succeed here.
"They have asked for meetings with us now that they are doing the
'right thing.' But the campaign continues, [though] it is no longer as
offensive and as shrill and as aggravating as it was."
Jentzsch declined to name other Jewish supporters, saying they "are
afraid of entering the frayŠand I understand." But, "frankly, I have had a
top Jewish scholar say to me, 'This is the beginningŠof an attempt to
destroy rights, and that is a danger signal. Pray God,' he said, 'it would
never turn into the Holocaust.'"
A rabbi who can be counted as sympathetic to the Scientologists'
German situation is Rabbi Kenneth Fradkin, the spiritual advisor of the
Baldwin Jewish Center in Long Island, New York. Rabbi Fradkin recently
signed a letter critical of Germany-a letter composed and circulated by
supporters and members of the Church of Scientology, although the
connection was not made clear to recipients.
The material went out last March from a Washington-based group,
Freedom for Religions in Germany, whose phone number is the same as that of
the church's D.C. public affairs office.
"I am proud that my name was used to help combat prejudice and to
promote religious freedom for all people," says Rabbi Fradkin, adding that
he was informed of the connection with Scientology when he was asked to
sign by Matt Bratschi, Freedom for Religions in Germany coordinator. "Jews,
more than any other people, know what it is like to be persecuted. I could
not stand by and do nothing," Fradkin says, explaining his reasons for
signing.
According to Bratschi, Freedom for Religions in Germany was founded
last year by the Church of Scientology. Among its activities: sponsoring a
symposium at University Synagogue in Los Angeles in June 1997 on "Ethnic
Cleansing in Germany." "We discussed not only what is happening to people
who are Scientologists, but other groups who seem to be the targets of
discrimination in Germany," says Rabbi Allen Freehling, who hosted the
symposium and continues to receive briefings from Scientology's human
rights specialist Leisa Goodman. "While I am not necessarily an advocate of
the Scientology cause, per se," says the rabbi, "my approach to this is to
be concerned about any violations toŠhuman rights."
Yet Herbert Rosedale, president of the American Family Foundation,
believes that mainstream Jewish community support is "based on ignorance or
uncritical acceptance of propaganda." The AFF, a New York-based
not-for-profit organization, educates the public about destructive
cults-and labels Scientology one. "Who will [the rabbis] run their next
defense for-Aum [Shinrikyo], the group that cast poison gas into the Tokyo
subways?" After that deadly 1995 attack, says Rosedale, a group of American
"cult apologists" was sent to Japan by Aum and other unnamed funders. They
called Japan's investigation of Aum "just another instance of religious
persecution," says Rosedale. One of these "apologists" was later a featured
speaker on the persecution of Scientology at the University Synagogue
conference last year.
Yet another activity of Freedom for Religions in Germany is to push
a resolution in the U.S. Congress condemning religious persecution in
Germany.
The resolution, whose prime sponsors are Rep. Matt Salmon (R-Ariz.)
and Rep. Donald Payne (D-N.J.), cites State Department human rights reports
findings that Germany discriminates against minority religions including
Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, Charismatic Christians, and Scientologists.
It urges Germany to protect freedom of religion and asks the U.S. president
to "assert the concern of" the U.S. government. The nonbinding measure
merely offers a sense of Congress and has nothing to do with the
farther-reaching Freedom From Religious Persecution Act still under debate.
Freedom for Religions in Germany circulated the letter that Rabbi
Fradkin co-signed, accusing Germany of holding a fact-finding meeting in
Washington with "a collaborator of the well-known anti-Semitic
organization, the Liberty LobbyŠ. Arnaldo Lerma, [who] has posted
anti-Semitic material on the Internet." (Conversely, it also has been
reported that Thomas Marcellus, a Holocaust denier and former director of
the historical revisionist Institute for Historical Review, is a prominent
Scientologist.)
The letter was on the stationery of Ya'aqov Halevi-Haramgaal, a
professor of Judaic studies in Hollywood. In various Scientology material,
Haramgaal is identified as a "freedom fighter" for Israel and an Israeli
journalist. Leisa Goodman of Scientology's California office says Haramgaal
is a Scientologist and teaches Judaic studies on a freelance basis.
The charges in Haramgaal's letter were swiftly denied as "false"
and "preposterous" in a press release from the Washington offices of
Germany's Friedrich-Ebert Foundation. Executive Director Dieter Dettke said
the meeting had been about "The church of Scientology and its former
members. [Its] purposeŠwas to help shed light for the members of the
Enquete [Inquiry] Commission of the German Parliament on the mysterious
deaths of at least eight members of the Church of Scientology in
Clearwater, Florida." He said Lerma had subscribed to the Liberty Lobby's
Spotlight publication while working on the presidential campaign of Ross
Perot.
"Former members of the Church of Scientology must have the right to speak
out," says Dettke.
In contrast to the Friedrich-Ebert release, the material from
Freedom for Religions in Germany does not acknowledge a connection between
the group and the Church of Scientology. Also not mentioned is the fact
that Freedom for Religions coordinator Bratschi, target Arnaldo Lerma, and
letter-writer Haramgaal all have strong ties to the church.
Bratschi, a longtime Scientologist, has done public relations for
the church. Lerma, a former Scientologist, was sued by the organization in
1995 for allegedly posting secret church scriptures on the Internet after
they had been entered as an affidavit in a Los Angeles court case. Prof.
Haramgaal, according to a 1997 Scientology brief on the Internet, is a
member of Scientology's Citizens Commission on Human Rights International,
whose mandate is to "investigate and expose psychiatric violationsŠ."
Scientology condemns psychiatry and psychology as "the stepchildren
of the German dictator Bismarck and later Hitler and the NazisŠ.[which]
formed the philosophical basis for the wholesale slaughter of human beings
in World Wars I and II." This statement, from a "Scientology Catechism" on
the Internet, says electric shock, psychosurgery, and drugs "destroy a
personŠin the name of 'treatment'Š."
Such claims notwithstanding, a criminal investigation is under way
in the 1995 death of a Scientologist in Clearwater, Fla. Lisa McPherson,
36, died 17 days after she reportedly was removed from psychiatric care by
Scientologists who said their religion opposes psychiatry.
Scientology, a Los Angeles-based movement, was founded in 1954 by
science-fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard, who died in 1986. The church says
technology can expand the mind and bring happiness. Recruits are offered a
free personality test in encounters on the street or through mailbox
stuffings. After the test, courses are suggested, for which participants
reportedly pay thousands of dollars. In order to cure people of their
problems, Scientology puts members through stages of counseling, teaching,
and "auditing," on their way to becoming "clear."
Church doctrine suggests it is possible to be a member of another
religion, and at the same time be a Scientologist. Jentzsch says it's "not
a common thing, butŠwe don't say you have to completely leave your
[earlier] faith."
Numbers of Jewish Scientologists are hard to come by. But according
to an article in the Detroit Jewish News in 1995, Scientology claims that
3.5 percent of its members come from Jewish homes.
Though the church claims 8 million members worldwide, critics have
contended there are only 50,000. Church officials estimate 30,000 members
in Germany alone. Claims by the church that it is "internationally
recognized as a religion" are false, says the 1997 German government
pamphlet. Other countries that do not recognize Scientology as a religious
faith include Belgium, France, Great Britain, Ireland, Israel, Italy,
Luxembourg, Mexico, and Spain.
Clearly, Germany doesn't take Scientology lightly. Germany's front
line of defense, however, is not restrictive laws but education, says Anne
Rühle, one of Scientology's toughest foes on that battlefield. To the
Scientologists, "I am a 'suppressive person,'" jokes Rühle. Her work-to
"inform and explain" to German youth the dangers of cults-brings her into
schools and puts her in contact with, among others, current and former
Scientologists. Of the 3.8 million people in Berlin, there are only about
200 active Scientologists, she asserts.
On the grassroots level, many Germans fear Scientology for two
reasons, says Rühle: "Since the re-unification of East and West Germany,
life is hard, and there is a trend toward belief in the power of magic and
hypnosis. People fear any contact with Scientologists because they think
they can be immediately taken in.
"The other reason is because it is a totalitarian organization.
There is a huge fear in Germany that totalitarianism could gain a foothold
again.
"We are against Scientology, but we are not against the people who are
Scientologists. But Germans have a hard time being easygoing about it."
Repeated attempts to schedule interviews with Berlin members of
Scientology were unsuccessful. But a Jewish Berliner who took the
introductory Scientology test was willing to talk, though he asked not to
be identified.
"They tried to undermine my self-confidenceŠand then said [helping
me would be] no problem, if you give us money. They tried to make me sign a
contract," says the man, 36, whose grandparents survived World War II in
hiding. "When I told [the test-giver] that I feel totally good and that he
is the one with the problem, he became angry and aggressive."
The test-taker said all the courses offered or recommended by
Scientology seemed to cost about $30,000. Contrary to what his Scientology
screening test purportedly showed, he noted that he recently passed a
three-hour psychological stress test given by Siemens, the giant technology
corporation, to potential employees.
When Scientologists like those in Australia say Germany is
repeating history, "they put their finger in a wound that is not closed,
not only for Jews but also for Germany," says Rühle. "They knew it would be
useful. It is an argument to bring America behind them."
Still, Scientology has made no headway in its fight for acceptance
as a religion in Germany. "We are new in this world," says Jentsch.
"Anybody that is new is looked on with a certain amount of-'What are you?
What is this?' I would like to think we can work together," he says of
Scientologists and the Jews, who have been around much longer. "Maybe," he
says, "it is a question of whether we are going to be driven together."
------
Toby Axelrod, former reporter with the _New York Jewish Week_, is a Fulbright
journalism scholar in Berlin, Germany.
--
Ron Newman rne...@thecia.net
http://www2.thecia.net/users/rnewman/
Beverly
> Jentzsch names as one sympathizer Rabbi David Saperstein, director
> of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism in Washington, D.C..
> According to Jentzsch, Rabbi Saperstein told him that "if anyone
> understands human rights and discrimination, the Jewish people do. We are
> on your side."
>
> Rabbi Saperstein responds that, "While I never made this specific
> comment attributed to me, nonetheless I am always sympathetic when people
> are subject to discrimination or persecution, religious or otherwise."
In other words, Jentzsch, Internation President of the church of Sci.
was lying. Is this correct?
It's not the first time that Co$ (church of scientology) reps have
claimed people of position made statements that were never made.
> Foxman of the Anti-Defamation League says Jentzsch has tried to win his
> support. "But," says Foxman, "they are not going to succeed here.
Of the many things Co$ has been criticized for, comparing themselves
with the Jews in the horror they went through through the Nazi
domination in Germany is one of their more distasteful actions.
It totally demonstrates either a total lack of education and complete
ignorance on their part, or a highly over-inflated sense of paranoia
(or both).
> Freedom for Religions in Germany circulated the letter that Rabbi
> Fradkin co-signed, accusing Germany of holding a fact-finding meeting in
> Washington with "a collaborator of the well-known anti-Semitic
> organization, the Liberty LobbyŠ. Arnaldo Lerma, [who] has posted
> anti-Semitic material on the Internet."
Does anybody have archived this anti-Semitic material that it is
claimed that Arnie posted? If he did post anti-Semitic matierial lets
get it out in the open and deal with it.
If, on the other hand, he did NOT post anti-Semitic material, lets get
the rumour that he did straightened out.
Either way, I'd like it dealt with so this accusation can be put away.
> The letter was on the stationery of Ya'aqov Halevi-Haramgaal, a
> professor of Judaic studies in Hollywood. In various Scientology material,
> Haramgaal is identified as a "freedom fighter" for Israel and an Israeli
> journalist. Leisa Goodman of Scientology's California office says Haramgaal
> is a Scientologist and teaches Judaic studies on a freelance basis.
So, is Haramgaal a practicing Jew by faith, or a scientologist? He
can't
be both, as the spiritual beliefs ~totally~ conflict with each other.
> "Former members of the Church of Scientology must have the right to speak
> out," says Dettke.
Without the support of the U.S. government that will not happen. While
the government goes out of their way to protect Co$ and their agenda,
they are doing ~nothing~, repeat, ~nothing~, to protect individual
citizens from the Co$ and the incredible amount of harassment,
intimidation, and threats of financial asphyxiation via the (ab)use
of the U.S. courts and endless barratry to stifle their free speech.
> Haramgaal, according to a 1997 Scientology brief on the Internet, is a
> member of Scientology's Citizens Commission on Human Rights International,
> whose mandate is to "investigate and expose psychiatric violationsŠ."
Many Co$ members are also members of the CCHR, as CCHR is a part of the
Co$ organization that has as it's goal to abolish the mental health
field, carrying on Hubbards hatred of "The Psychs", and postulating to
replace the current mental health care with dianetics and scientology.
Beverly
Charlotte L. Kates
rne...@thecia.net says...
>
>The following article appeared in the July/August 1998 issue of
>_B'nai B'rith International Jewish Monthly_, a publication of
>B'nai B'rith International. I am posting it here with permission from the
>author and publisher.
Ron,
Thank you *very much* for posting this--it's a really excellent article.
<snip>
>
> A rabbi who can be counted as sympathetic to the Scientologists'
>German situation is Rabbi Kenneth Fradkin, the spiritual advisor of the
>Baldwin Jewish Center in Long Island, New York. Rabbi Fradkin recently
>signed a letter critical of Germany-a letter composed and circulated by
>supporters and members of the Church of Scientology, although the
>connection was not made clear to recipients.
>
I was in Washington, DC early this year when this letter was released. The
Enquete Commission of the Bundestag on So-Called Sects and Psycho-groups was in
DC the last week in February to meet with the State Department, former
Scientologists, and other American governmental figures and cult experts. As
soon as Co$ discovered the visit, every Eastern U. S. Org was given a quota of
publics to send to DC daily, to picket the Commission members and hold
counter-meetings with Congresspeople. Leisa Goodman, described here as
Scientology's "human rights director", and actually PR representative from OSA
Int, flew to DC; DSA's from up and down the East Coast converged, and Sue
Taylor, Sylvia Stanard, and Matt Bratschi (described here as a long-time
Scientologist directing "Freedom for Religions in Germany" without mention of
his employ by OSA), all of OSA DC, directed us public $cientologists as we
followed and picketed the Germans.
Wednesday, the 25th of February, we stood outside the Friedrich-Ebert
Foundation, picketing the Germans and the building itself--when who came along
but Arnie Lerma and Frank Oliver! Sylvia, Matt and the rest of the DC OSA bunch
were *not* happy; Arnie passed out flyers to us as we picketed the building. (I
got one, but Donya Fradkin, a young OSA DC staffer, was sent by Sylvia to
collect them from us.) After the Commission's meeting with Arnie and Frank,
Dieter Dettke of the Foundation emerged from the building, where we remained
waiting outside, with a copy of OT III, which he attempted to show us. Sylvia
and the rest of OSA DC *hated* Dettke; they referred to him as "Dieter Dickhead"
back at the OSA DC offices on Connecticut Avenue. Upon returning, they hurriedly
prepared the new DA attack--press releases, flyers, and picket signs falsely
describing Arnie as an "anti-semite." They called upon Jewish Scientologists and
"friends" to sign on to the letter attacking Arnie and the Germans; by the next
day, we were distributing these letters as flyers and picketing with signs
denouncing both the Commission and Arnie.
This is really an excellent article, and it's delightful to see that most Jewish
leaders and organizations will not lend their names to $cientology's lies, that
they see through the propaganda, and that they recognize $cn for what it is.
BTW, OSA's DA attempts were, as always, utterly ineffective. Media did not
believe it, despite OSA's many attempts. Agencie France-Presse picked up a wire
story about OSA's press release and the Foundation's response, commenting that
Co$' allegations "did not pan out upon research." Sue Taylor, believing in the
old Co$ axiom that "all bad PR is good PR, really it is", was ecstatic, jumping
for joy as the story came through on OSA's fax. She commented that "it did not
matter if the story is true"; that what mattered was that the seed of doubt had
been planted--yet another example of Co$' disregard for truth in its relentless
attempts to slander and destroy those who speak out against it.
OSA's DA did nothing but enforce upon the Commission the fact that $cientology
*was* ruthless, *was* destructive, and harassed its former members and critics
relentlessly. And I'm very pleased to see it was also disbelieved by the
mainstream Jewish community--which knows better than to be fooled by the lies of
Co$.
Charlotte
Charlotte L. Kates http://members.aol.com/clkates/ CLK...@aol.com
OFFLINESonline: Freedom from Scientology
"It is time for Scientologists to hold Miscavige accountable for his failed
leadership. To support your cause, critics can and will help you.We are here to
help you regain the dignity you once had."- Robert S. Minton
Paul K
Arnaldo Pagliarno Lerma
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
Rebel Without a Clue
Arnie Lerma has been duly inducted into the A.R.S. Bigots Dishonor Roll for
his anti-religious activities.
Lerma proudly notes that he is on the Board of Policy of the anti-semitic
Liberty Lobby, and spoke at their 40th anniversary convention. Liberty Lobby
is an organization which was founded by WILLIS CARTO , himself an infamous
bigot who has been described by Yaron Svoray of the Simon Wiesenthal Center
as "the most notorious Nazi in the world".
Lerma is fully aware that he is associating with despicable Jew haters like
CARTO in pursuit of his desire to create an atmosphere of hate towards
members of the Church of Scientology. This hidden agenda was exposed in an
e-mail which Lerma sent to Kim Baker, a close associate and co-director with
Arnie Lerma and Lawrence Wollersheim of the anti-religious cyber-hate group
FACTNet. After Lerma was sued for copyright infringement, Lerma garnered
support from Carto and other like-minded mad-dog bigots. Lerma explained
this in a private E-MAIL message to Baker in which he stated:
"I was asked to speak at the 40th anniversary convention of Liberty Lobby...
I suggest that we don't promote my relationship with Willis Carto. Willis
BTW had a group called 'Liberty & Property' in 1955. The Spotlight [Liberty
Lobby's propaganda organ] is purging its advertizer list of all questionable
groups, neo-Nazi's, white supremacists, etc. Some of the ads are placed by
ADL just to make the Spotlight dead agentable. We have the full support of
Willis Carto, and the 'patriot' movement in the United States."
Although Lerma likes to think of himself as a patriotic "Son of Liberty",
his actions paint quite a different picture - that of a low-class bigot who
has been a turncoat to nearly every organization he has been associated
with. He is "patriotic" only to himself, as his former girlfriend and young
son can attest since he pays nothing for either's support or care.
His anti-social behavior also extends to the Internet where he has gained
the reputation of a copyright bandit after publishing copyrighted Church
writings on the Internet out of spite and then losing the resultant
copyright suit. In the process he bled one million dollars from insurance
company coffers. He is now making futile attempts to try to get even for his
own stupidity.
Lerma's other misguided causes follow a similar pattern. He normally joins a
group professing to align with their high ideals of changing the world for
the better. Then, as he participates in the group, he tears up this person,
chops up that person, then finds it all bad and turns coat and leaves. This
has happened over and over. Such examples are Ross Perot's United We Stand
America, the Patriot Party of Virginia, and the Virginians for an
Independent Arlington.
The most recent group Lerma has aligned to is the cyber-hate group FACTNet,
which is run by a certified mental case, Lawrence Wollersheim, (see his web
page). FACTNet was started with seed money from a director of the old Cult
Awareness Network, a hate group which went bankrupt following a
multi-million dollar judgement as the result of a kidnapping the group
participated in.
No sooner had Lerma worked his way onto the board of directors of FACTNet,
than he and fellow copyright pirate Lawrence Wollersheim, stabbed co-founder
Bob Penny in the back. Cowards that they are, Lerma and Wollersheim waited
until Penny was too ill to block their attempts to remove him from the board
of FACTNet.
Although Lerma is officially listed as the Treasurer of FACTNet, according
to postings on ars, Wollersheim is the one who actually controls the
finances and knows where the money is really going and calls all the shots.
Lerma appears to only be a straw man for Wollersheim. Wollersheim and
Lerma's mistreatment of Penny, who suffers from MS, was exposed in a telling
article in the BOULDER WEEKLY newspaper.
Lerma has been described as, "less than forthcoming when it suits his
purpose" by Shelley Thomson who blew the whistle on Lerma alleging that "In
private conversations with me he was more than willing to admit that the
FACTNet board' approved the use of quite a bit of FACTNet donations to pay
the rent on Wollersheim's personal residence...."
At one point during Lerma's copyright case, his credibility (not to mention
his sanity) sank to a new low when he broadly claimed that Church attorneys,
accompanied by law enforcement personnel, had planted LSD on his toothbrush
during the search of his home for infringing material. Lerma's grip on
reality is so tenuous that he actually wrote a letter to the judge in his
copyright case stating the following:
"... This is important and frankly your honor, this small fact is what saved
me. After rinsing it very well under hot water I brushed my teeth and went
to bed. About an hour later, I found myself VERY paranoid, and unable to
relax. I attributed this, at first, to the extreme stress of the raid,
until, some minutes later, I noted how clammy, and sweaty my palms were, and
then, with my eyes shut, I began to hallucinate, geometric images...
"...I got out of bed, and then realized, having taken LSD in the 1960's
perhaps 10 times, that I had been drugged.
"...I also saved a urine sample that to this day is in the back of my
refrigerator. The toothbrush is still in the possession of Detective Moore
at this date.
"...What I did suffer from was some scrambled memories, and a compromised
ability to recall short term events...."
Even Lerma's own attorneys began to realize he was a loon and advised him
that they would drop him if he ever wrote to the judge ex-parte again in an
attempt to influence her in an extra-judicial manner. (The firm obviously
realized that Lerma was royally screwing up the case for them.)
Lerma, true to past form, suddenly started finding fault with his attorneys,
turned coat on them and dismissed them. He threatened to file a malpractice
case against them in order to avoid paying their bills. Lerma's "patriotism"
and sense of loyalty go strong until someone tries to stop his unethical
anti-social impulses.
(As a note, it is hoped that Lerma has since remembered to clean out his
refrigerator and has discarded the urine sample, however this is doubtful
since he reportedly lives in slovenly conditions and apparently rarely
cleans his own house - while pointing the finger at everyone else.)
Despite all the hype and Lerma draining nearly a million dollars of
FACTNet's insurance money in attorney fees for his defense in the Internet
copyright case, Lerma lost the case and FACTNet will never be able to get
insurance again.
One internet poster who followed the events leading to the copyright case
astutely observed:
"...I was offended to see that Arnie Lerma apparently hasn't learned
anything from his recent court battle. I am offended that people here
somehow equate freedom of speech with copyright infringement..." "...doing
their best to inflame others and trying to set themselves up as some sort of
white knights riding out to do battle with the evil anti-free speech dragon
called the CoS..."
Net users who were misled into believing that they were donating to defend
freedom of speech on the Internet, have since learned that their money was
used to bail out a copyright pirate and religious bigot who were actually
trying to trash a religion through illegal means and paying for personal
needs like rent and a new Jeep.
Like other bigots whose lives are consumed by hatred, Lerma demonstrates
little if any socially redeeming qualities.
Perhaps the day will dawn when Arnie will start thinking about someone
beside himself and start becoming a responsible person, if not for himself,
perhaps for the sake of his only child whom he neglects. Or for his child's
mother, who works as a bricklayer and whose recent bankruptcy filings show
substantial debts and no financial help from Arnie. Although nothing is
physically wrong with him, Lerma will work just enough hours to make enough
money to support his internet crimes while the mother of his child lays
bricks and has to write bad checks to buy groceries for his son for more
information.
-------------------------
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Date: Mon, 4 Sep 1995 10:03:30 -0400 (EDT)
From: Arnie Lerma <ale...@lightlink.com>
To: Kim Baker <K...@uctlib.uct.ac.za>
Subject: Re: Co-ordination
In-Reply-To: <m0spXOY...@uctmail.uct.ac.za>
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I was asked to speak at the 40th anneversary convention of liberty lobby.
my talk was the liberty tree essay.
after I read the 1766 dedication by silas downer I had to wait until the
applause died down to continue...
I suggest that we dont promote my relationship with Willis Carto.
Willis, BTW. had a group called 'liberty &property' in 1955
The Spotlight is purging its advertiser list of all questionable groups,
neo-nazi's, white supermacists etc. Some of the ads are placed by ADL just
to make the spotlight deadagentable.
We have the full support of Willis Carto, and the the 'patriot' movement in
the United States.
They have a web page for patriots and have done much research on browser
links and various web indexes, and they will be including pointers to our
story.
more as I learn it.
(I addressed room of 175 people).
from all over the usa..
Arnie
arnie_lerma
In article <rnewman-ya0240800...@enews.newsguy.com>,
rne...@thecia.net says...
>
Secrets are the mortar binding
bricks as lies together into prisons for the mind.
I'd prefer to die speaking my mind than live fearing to speak.
The only thing that always works in scientology are its lawyers
The internet is the liberty tree of the 90's http://www.lermanet.com
Xapped
>
> Wooing the Jews
>
> Its "Never Again" campaign has stopped.
> But the Church of Scientology still wants Jewish support in Germany.
There are a couple of pictures from the Scientology ad campaign at
http://cisar.org/psy1000.htm. Scientology spent over a million dollars
taking out full page ads in The New York Time, Washingon Post and Herald
Tribune depicting Germany in Nazistic terms.
> by Toby Axelrod
>
> When German Chancellor Helmut Kohl visited Australia in July 1997, he was
> greeted by jeering Scientologists in Nazi-style uniforms with swastika
> armbands. They confronted him with placards reading "Hands Off Our
> Religion" and "Is Germany Really A Free Country?"
The "jeering Scientologists" included children dressed in Nazi uniforms.
There are a couple of pictures at
http://www.innernet.net/joecisar/ars1100.htm
>
> The protest was part of Scientology's fight for recognition as a
> religion in Germany, a status that would bring significant tax benefits.
> Not only does Germany refuse that request, but also the government actually
> sees Scientology as a danger that must be curbed.
This attitude was shared by the US government from 1967 to 1993. In 1993
Scientology was granted tax-exempt status by the IRS under suspicious
circumstances. See New York Times article of March 9, 1997.
> To protect his state, Bavarian Interior Minister Günther Beckstein
> already in 1996 had added Scientology to the list of what he called
> "totalitarian, cynical organizations," including some neo-Nazi parties, its
"menschenveraechtend" is not equal to "cynical". Literally it means
scornful of people.
> In June 1997, Bonn began a year of surveillance of Scientology
> organizations in Germany and invoked its most controversial laws, "for the
> protection of the Constitution." The laws allow for mail interception,
> phone taps, and use of undercover agents to establish whether the
Mail interception and phone taps are not being used on Scientology in
Germany. Read the following:
"A rather effective means for gathering information is not at the disposal
of the Constitutional agents. Tapping telephones and monitoring mail, the
so-called 'G-10' measures, are out of the question in dealing with
Scientology. The threat of violence which is needed to bring those
measures into effect is lacking."
That is German law.
> As for the "Never Again" campaign, Jentzsch says it was stopped
> more than a year ago, and he called the Australian demonstration an
> aberration. "We made a mistake early on by making this comparison. It was
> offensive to the Jewish people."
Jentzsch calling the Germans Nazis and Scientologists Jews was offensive
to the Jewish people? If that doesn't explain Scientology, I don't know
what does.
> The resolution, whose prime sponsors are Rep. Matt Salmon (R-Ariz.)
> and Rep. Donald Payne (D-N.J.), cites State Department human rights reports
> findings that Germany discriminates against minority religions including
> Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, Charismatic Christians, and Scientologists.
This is the "Scientology Bill." It lost last year, but received a
$750,000 shot in the arm and is back again. See last year's congressional
record, the first link down at http://www.innernet.net/joecisar
> Clearly, Germany doesn't take Scientology lightly. Germany's front
> line of defense, however, is not restrictive laws but education, says Anne
> Rühle, one of Scientology's toughest foes on that battlefield.
For German Scientology news, visit http://cisar.org/trnmenu.htm
For German/Swiss reports on Scientology, http://cisar.org/trn1000.htm
Joe Cisar German Scientology News http://cisar.org
l.l.lipshitz
|In article <rnewman-ya0240800...@enews.newsguy.com>,
|rne...@thecia.net says...
[...]
|> A rabbi who can be counted as sympathetic to the Scientologists'
|>German situation is Rabbi Kenneth Fradkin, the spiritual advisor of the
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
|>Baldwin Jewish Center in Long Island, New York. Rabbi Fradkin recently
|>signed a letter critical of Germany-a letter composed and circulated by
|>supporters and members of the Church of Scientology, although the
|>connection was not made clear to recipients.
[...]
|Wednesday, the 25th of February, we stood outside the Friedrich-Ebert
|Foundation, picketing the Germans and the building itself--when who came
|along
|but Arnie Lerma and Frank Oliver! Sylvia, Matt and the rest of the DC OSA
|bunch
|were *not* happy; Arnie passed out flyers to us as we picketed the building. |(I
|got one, but Donya Fradkin, a young OSA DC staffer, was sent by Sylvia to
^^^^^^^^^^^^^
|collect them from us.)
[...]
is donya related to rabbi kenneth?
-elle
------------=[ l.l.lipshitz * elk...@min.net ]=------------
america is a melting pot: the people on the bottom
get burned while all the scum floats to the top -ck