Here is the timeline of events between Anonymous and Scientology. This should not be confused with John McCain’s timetables.
No other song would have worked to reflect the absurdity that is Scientology.   Now I originally wanted Rick Astley played when the Steelers’ opponents have possession of the ball.  But this is a close second.  Pittsburgh’s protest had about 30-40 in the freezing cold.  I wasn’t able to stay long.  Here’s a video taken by someone else who was there.

I don’t think Pittsburgh’s chapter of the Cult was Rickrolled as it was in other cities, however.   In Toronto, inside the Scientology Cult center, a woman was serenaded. Also at the DC Protest, Arnie Lerma told the Xenu story.  Also this woman’s story is heartbreaking.

Anonymous is Scientology’s Legion of Doom.  And remember not to feed the Trolls.  Scientologists kick.  There’s much more, too much for now. But here’s a “best of” video from the London protest. Sadly it uses that terrible trance remix of the Requiem for a Dream soundtrack.

The St. Petersburg Times (an “enemy of the Church”) has a  great article that shows some of the lunacy of the cult.  Here some some quips:

• Anonymous members brought a cake and sang Happy Birthday in [Lisa McPherson's] memory. They tried to lay plastic flowers outside the Fort Harrison Hotel where she died but police asked them not to, saying they would be trespassing.
• [C]hurch spokeswoman Pat Harney compared Anonymous to the Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan. “It’s similar to burning a cross on somebody’s lawn,” she said. “It’s a bunch of yahoos. They get on the Internet and they don’t use real communication.”
• Harney said the church would use the pictures to identify the protesters because any of them could be a security risk. Protesters scoffed at that.

Speaking of Nazis, Band of Brothers and Saving Private Ryan were on the History Channel and TNT respectively this weekend, which I spent most of my time watching.  If anyone uses paranoid rhetoric to ensnare their members like the Nazis it’s Scientology.  Even Ze Germans are wary of them.

Because of its experiences during the Nazi regime, Germany has a special responsibility to monitor the development of any extreme group within its borders — even when the group’s members are small in number. Given the indisputable evidence that the Scientology organization has repeatedly attempted to interfere with the American government and has harmed individuals within Germany, the German federal government has responded in a very measured legal fashion to the Scientology organization.

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From Philadelphia (taken from a forums post on Something Awful:

Say hello to a scientologist.

Hi Scientologist!

She was sent out like the rest of the scientologists to “give us a scare” by taking pictures and being silent and mysterious and all that.

Now, you may have heard, that the best answer to this is to have a guy on a megaphone reciting the Xenu story. And in fact, for most of the scientologists, this actually worked. They went back inside.

Would you like some literature?

She didn’t go back inside.

She, unlike the others, broke her firm resolve, and also broke into tears. (not shown on camera, sorry)

She stayed and listened. She heard about documented evidence of the CoS’s crimes. She heard about how these people who she thought were helping her, had killed others using the same techniques they were using on her. She heard the names, heard of their deaths. She heard about Operation Snow White. She heard it from 135 people who cared enough to come out and picket about it. She heard hundreds upon hundreds of cars honking for support.

She cried.

I don’t know what she’ll do next. But maybe she’ll get help. Maybe she’ll get out…

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There is another protest scheduled for March 15th, two days after L. Ron Hubbard’s birthday.

Anonymous has been giving Scientology the business for the past couple of weeks.  I planned on summing this up and posting it here, but there’s just so much.  I suggest people read this thread posted on the Something Awful Forums which does the job better.

Also this is a nice clean overview of the crazy that they encounter / deal with.

Oh, and their leader, David Miscavige, is truly a sadistic asshole.  I hope You All think differently of Me.  This is a posting that describes a game in which Miscavige pits his”underlings” against each other in a game of Musical Chairs.  What could go wrong you say?

“It was very sad to watch. People, who were best friends for years, were throwing their best friend to the ground for a chance to get a seat in a chair. Most of the people who had lost were just made to stand there and wait. Wait and do nothing except wonder where you would end up, what would you do, who would you ever see again?”

I’ll post some more highlights here in the next few days.  Remember it all started with the leak of the Tom Cruise video which some morons are trying to spin as a positive thing for the Dangerous Cult…

From IMDB.com: Leaked videos of Tom Cruise singing the praises of Scientology were good publicity for the controversial religion, church elders have confirmed. Footage of an energized Cruise promoting the religion found its way onto the internet last week, prompting an outpouring of criticism aimed at the star. But Scientology bosses insist the star’s bizarre monologues, in which he referred to the faith as “a blast” and saluted a statue of founder L. Ron Hubbard boosted the church’s profile. <snip> Scientologist Kirstie Alley came to Cruise’s defense… She said, “Tom was using words meant for a Scientology audience. On the web, the video is take out of context. It’s like a rabbi addressing a Christian church, speaking in Hebrew. No one would understand him.”

Like Kirstie Alley is relevant.  A rabbi also would not be spreading lies and trying to actively deceive people (aside from that whole god thing), he would prefer to genuinely help them.  A rabbi would  not scam them out of their life-savings just as I would not scam you out of yours.

And the rumors just keep getting better.  Apparently, Katie Holmes had a sudden outbreak of common sense.

A distraught Katie Holmes has stormed out of a crisis meeting with her husband Tom Cruise, furious over damaging publicity about his Scientology beliefs, and humiliated over the disastrous reaction to the movie he told her to make.

Maybe she’ll stay in reality this time.

In related happenings, Scientologists also have their own (and probably just as wacky) version of Craig’s List called thetalinks.com.

About Thetalinks: Thetalinks is the number one community classifieds site for Scientologists around the globe. It was started in Oct 2006 and has expanded rapidly because of its simplicity and effectiveness. Thetalinks is based out of Los Angeles, California and its company webpage is www.thetalinks.com

Read the full press release here: http://www.emediawire.com/releases/2008/1/prweb664863.htm Sadly, they don’t seem to have any romantic encounters sections.

Why don’t We have our own version of Thetalinks or Craig’s List?  It’s on Our TODO list, so relax, it’s coming.

As a reminder for Everyone, you will never be asked (or forced) to accept any mark upon your body. Especially your hands. Hands are extremely useful for a number of things. I’d like to ask for his description of what the mark looked like. Was it textured? Indented or raised skin? If it was on the forearm, he may have been a Death Eater.

A man who believed he bore the “mark of the beast” used a circular saw to cut off one hand, then cooked it in the microwave.

Wait, what?

“It had been somewhat cooked by the time the deputy arrived,” sheriff’s Capt. Ben Wolfinger said.

I can stretch to understand the removal of the hand, but to microwave it? Ladies and gentlemen, We all know that to remove a demonic spirit, they must be burned and turned to ash as they are immune to many forms of radiation.

In other crackpot religion tax-exempt scam news, let Us speak of true mark of the beast: it seems Katie Holmes may have accepted it… Claims (which should surprise none of Us) have recently surfaced in a book which claims Suri Cruise was not fathered by the false-prophet Mapathor.

“Some sect members believed that Katie Holmes was carrying the baby who would be the vessel for L. Ron Hubbard’s spirit when he returned around the galaxy.”

Cruise’s lawyer Bert Fields says, “He’s very angry. It’s so bizarre and grotesque to imply that Suri is fathered by the frozen sperm of L. Ron Hubbard. You just look at Suri, and you see Tom and Katie.”

While We should not be surprised by these claims even if they are true, We know that they are not. We know, with little doubt, that David Miscavige stole L. Ron’s sperm and used it to clone L. Ron. He failed. Anyone want to take a guess what he did with it next?

How does this affect Xenu’s plans for the domination of Earth? We cannot be sure, he has not been seen for seventy-five million years. but even though neither of the above if true would ever affect Us, to fortify our strong hold, I may soon need an Heir. The world may or may not be in grave danger, but from whom? We will discuss this further at the next Gathering.

For more about the idiocy that is Scientology, http://www.lermanet.com or http://www.xenu.net