From: penny@rmii.com (Bob Penny) Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology Subject: raid on Arnie Lerma Date: Tue, 15 Aug 1995 04:00:16 GMT Organization: FACTNet, Inc. Message-ID: <40qgv8$gqd@natasha.rmii.com> Reply-To: bobpenny@delphi.com FACTNET'S statement on SCIENTOLOGY'S RAID ON FACTNET DIRECTOR ARNIE LERMA STATEMENT OF FACTS A) FACTNet is a nonprofit 501(3)(c) educational lending library and historical preservational archive. B) Arnie Lerma has been a member of the Board of Directors of FACTNet since mid-July, 1995. C) Arnie Lerma's home was invaded and his records seized by Scientology on August 12, 1995 after he posted an affidavit from the Fishman-Geertz case to the Internet. D) The Fishman-Geertz affidavit was and is a legally obtained document. It came from the public court record obtained by FACTNet almost a year ago during the Fishman-Geertz case. E) When Scientology raided Arnie Lerma's location and seized his records, Scientology also illegally obtained confidential FACTNet records that were in his possession and appropriate to his position as a voting board member. (These records did not include our mailing lists or compromise any victim who has contacted FACTNet for information.) F) In distributing the Fishman affidavit, Arnie Lerma was acting within his powers as a member of FACTNet's Board of Directors. The 7 key purposes of the FACTNet library and historical archive which guide Lerma's action, as designated in our corporate structure and in our IRS educational status, are: 1. FACTNet collects, indexes, and computerizes legal, medical, media, and research information on past, present, and evolving coercive mind control technologies. This information is made available globally through state of the art computerized telecommunications. (Scientology and Dianetics are considered by most leading experts to be the cultic organization that is the single worst abuser of coercive mind control and other coercive tactics.) 2. FACTNet monitors, exposes, and opposes coercive mind control abuse wherever we find it. Our purpose is to expose the true breadth, scope and growth of these dangerous and rapidly evolving technologies. 3. FACTNet promotes open dialog on facts and opinions concerning the dangers of coercive mind control. 4. FACTNet sponsors and provides a forum for educational materials, electronic news, events, speakers, etc., to help prevent personal, economic, social, religious, or political abuse by users of coercive mind control. 5. FACTNet empowers individuals and organizations through education, by use of its library and archive resources, to become more aware of and to use existing social, legal, and government recourse which is their right. 6. FACTNet assists in the networking of individuals, professionals, and organizations. Rapid exchange of information is critical to preventing, stopping, and recovering from coercive mind control. 7. FACTNet provides emergency support assistance for victim recovery and victim or anti-abuse advocates. (For full information on FACTNet's purposes and guiding principles see the document called factpack.txt on our BBS and ftp site.) By distributing the Fishman affidavit for public dialog, Arnie Lerma was acting in accordance with the highest purposes of FACTNet in that FACTNet has received and researched almost 300 reports of individuals who committed suicide attempted suicide, or became psychotic or neurotic while receiving Scientology processes. The materials Arnie Lerma distributed deal particularly with the areas that are most often associated with these reports and coercive mind control. Arnie Lerma was also informing unknowing third parties of possible grave personal danger to their safety and well being regarding these materials, a danger even Scientology acknowledges. G) The full Board of Directors of FACTNet stands behind its fellow Board member, Arnie Lerma, who acted in accordance with our organizational purposes in distributing the legally obtained court record called the Fishman affidavit. H) FACTNet's full financial, insurance, informational and human resources will be used to defend Arnie Lerma. STATEMENT OF OPINIONS AND CONCERNS A) Throughout its 40 year history, Scientology and Dianetics have been notorious for their outrageous attacks against anyone who sought to criticize or expose their immoral and illegal activities. B) Scientology has waged war on FACTNet since its inception: It has threatened FACTNet with four lawsuits using three different law firms, for everything from copyright infringement to libel and slander. Scientology is suing a former member of FACTNet's Board of Directors, Jon Atack, in England, trying to drive him bankrupt with legal expenses in a frivolous and malicious lawsuit. Scientology is suing a former member of FACTNet's Board of Directors, Gerald Armstrong, in the US, to prevent him from saying anything about Scientology in the future. In the Armstrong lawsuit, Scientology asked the court for a preposterous and over-broad court order that would remove all information concerning Scientology "from any and all data bases electronic or otherwise within the possession, custody or control of FACTNet." Scientology appears to be trying to buy up 10-15 year old debts of another current member of FACTNet's Board of Directors to force him into silence by threatening or creating a bankruptcy. Scientology or its agents have stalked, intimidated and continued to "fair game" harass our staff and their families and friends in spite of being warned repeatedly to stay away from everyone in our organization. Scientology's agents or members have called potential FACTNet financial donors and threatened that they could "get in trouble" by supporting FACTNet or that money they gave would be misused personally by one of FACTNet's Directors. Scientology's agents or members may have attempted to infiltrate our electronic library and hard copy archive to possibly sabotage our organization by hacking through our BBS's security system or by surreptitiously trying to place incriminating documents into our archives. Scientology's agents or members have threatened our original Internet Web page provider with an expensive lawsuit if they continue to provide web page services to our library. They have threatened to sue our secure mail and office services provider (Mail Boxes Etc.) if they even send another fax for us. Scientology's agents or members have initiated a widespread anonymous Black PR smear mailing. In one document, FACTNet's Board of Directors and network associates were called everything from criminals, perverts, con men, CIA operatives to insane. Using the same smear tactics, Scientology has repeatedly written the IRS in an effort to get our non profit educational status canceled. Scientology seems to be taking every step to destroy our ability to archive and preserve public records and research and make those records available to the public who wants them now or will want them in the future. In its latest raid and lawsuit against a Director of FACTNet, Arnie Lerma, Scientology has initiated a radical new tactic to intimidate and silence their critics. This is the most serious new step in suppressing public debate and freedom of speech ever entered into by Scientology. In its attack and lawsuit against Arnie Lerma, a FACTNet Director performing functions appropriate to the FACTNet organization, Scientology has gone from attacking individuals who privately possess information critical of it to attacking the very vehicles set up by society to collect and preserve information: our public libraries and public archives. This is a major and important acceleration of Scientology's coercive and abusive tactics -- not just against FACTNet -- but against the vital social mechanisms to preserve and distribute information for public debate, public education, and public safety. C) This acceleration of Scientology's abusive tactics must be met with the strongest of public condemnation and immediate action to defend the social institutions and functions of public libraries and archives from this new generation of "book burning" tactics D) FACTNet needs the help of all individuals and organizations who believe that our public information system of libraries and archives must be protected to help defend the very rationality necessary to protect democracy through informed public debate. E) FACTNet and its key executives and advisors have more than 80 years experience successfully defeating Scientology in and out of the courts. From this experience we have learned several things about the organization's nature and tactics that are relevant to this situation. 1) Scientology is not a church in the sense that most people think of a church. Scientology has its secret origins in Satanism, black magic, occultims, secret societies, and Naze philosophies and tactics. The IRS held off for almost 20 years before giving Scientology the same religious status that it routinely gives to other Satanic and neo-Nazi "churches 2) Scientology intimidates and attacks its critics for two main purposes. One is to put the critic's "head on a pike" and make an example of them. They do this to silence them and anyone else who may be thinking of criticizing Scientology. The second reason is to redirect the attention and debate of their own membership away from the message to an attack on the messenger. 3) The only way we have found to defeat Scientology's brown shirt and bully boy tactics, besides the courts, is to overwhelmingly defeat the original intention of the attack on the Scientology critic. While court remedies are being pursued, what must also be done is to dramatically increase the worldwide distribution of information on Scientology for even more public dialog and debate. It is this simple. The intentions behind Scientology's tactics is to stop information distribution and to stop public debate. We must increase both overwhelmingly. Here's why. The trance producing processes of Scientology tend to create fanatics. Scientology is currently run by the most fanatical of those fanatics. These leaders are in an isolation bubble where normal reality and normal feedback from their actions seldom reach them. To cut through their isolation and numbness, the response of those trying to protect public dialog and the libraries and archives that preserve the information for this debate must be OVERWHELMING! I estimate that FACTNet and a corps of emergency volunteers needs to immediately begin putting up 100-1000 times more Fishman affidavit type public records on Scientology into world wide distribution on the Internet. Scientology needs to learn that attacking critics, illegal and immoral raids do not work any more. They need to learn that each unjust attack on their critics, other than in the arena of public debate, will only make the distribution of information they are trying to hide 100-1000 times worse. Scientology needs to learn that when you attack one of us you attack all of us, and that we as librarians and archivist at FACTNet have learned the historic lessons of the bullies and book burners of other totalitarian organizations. We have learned the lesson that to prevent possible social catastrophe one must aggressively fight against coercive tactics and the organizations that use them while they are still small. 3) What we need from the readers of this notice. One, distribute this notice to every newsgroup on the Internet you can think of that would be interested in it. Two, log on to one of the Internet sites listed at the end of this statement that contains information from the FACTNet library and get the information to local media, current Scientology members or their families or anyone else you think needs to be involved in the public debate on Scientology's attack on Dennis Erlich and Arnie Lerma, the dangers of Scientology's coercive tactics and the protection of the FACTNet library and archive. Three, If you have a computer scanner and modem and have some time, FACTNet has about a million pages of uncomputerized public records that we need volunteers to scan, correct and post to the Internet. (To help, email factnet@rmii.com and we will get you the details.) Four, get your local library association and BBS operators involved in distributing information about Scientology and discussing Scientology's attacks on the Internet, Arnie Lerma, Dennis Erlich and now on FACTNet's electronic library and archive. To help protect the purpose behind libraries and archives, and to help protect Arnie Lerma, Dennis Erlich and FACTNet's library and archive, we are counting on you to immediately begin these or other legal actions. Imagine you have criticized someone on the Internet. Police enter your home and seize your computer and records. How would you feek? Lawrence Wollersheim Executive Director FACTNet, Inc. FACTNet 601 16th St. C-217, Golden CO. 80401, USA Voice 1-303-473-0111 The FACTNet electronic lending library and archive can be found on our BBS, 1-303-530-1942. Log on and follow the instructions on the screen. Selected information can also be found at the following sites. Internet FTP Sites: ftp.rmii.com (The directory pub2/factnet contains a BIG zipped file that mirrors the BBS's state last June.) ftp: marvel.loc.gov ftp.primenet.com/users/c/cultxpt ftp.rahul.net/pub/homer FTP.PCNET.COM/users/brianw RTFM.MIT.EDU/pub/usenet/alt.answers/scientology/users America Online: Keyword Religion; select 'other religions'; goto other religions file area, scroll back to Oct 25, 94 and you will find many affidavits. Also, select ''Philosphy" then "philosophy file area" and scroll back to March 25, for affidavits from Fishman and Scarff. OTHER WWW WEB SITES: (Information may still be on most of these sites. Some may have been removed ) http://www.cybercom.net/~rnewman/scientology/home.html http://www.demon.co.uk/castlsys/clambust.html http://www.xs4all.nl/~fonss/ http://www.cybercom.net/~rnewman/scientology/media/home.html http://amazing.cinenet.net/scientology.html http://wheel.dcn.davis.ca.us:80/~btcarrol/home/Bobshome.html (the Scientology stuff is in his dictionary thing) http://www.eff.org/pub/Censorship/CoS_v_the_Net/ http://www.theta.com/goodman/ http://www.sky.net/~sloth/sci/sci_index.html http://www.snafu.de/~tilman http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Fishman/