Glosslip Exclusive: Daily Mail Threatened By Church of Scientology, Forced To Pull Travolta Story
Glosslip insiders have revealed that the Daily Mail’s story on Jett Travolta, titled “Did John Travolta’s weird faith seal son Jett’s fate?” was pulled from their website after threats from the Church of Scientology.
This is nothing new in the world of Scientology. Almost a year ago, gossip site Gawker was threatened with legal action from the highly litigious “religion” after posting a “for Scientologist’s eyes only” video featuring Tom Cruise discussing his strange religion. Gawker, citing fair use laws, refused to pull the video, and have been reaping a traffic bonanza since. The mega YouTube has also been at the center of Scientology’s lawyers wrath, waging a constant war between users uploading material which is critical of the group and the constant cease and desist letters they received from the Church. With the barrage of stories following the tragic death of 16-year old Jett Travolta, one has to wonder how much overtime the lawyers have been putting in trying to keep the media from looking too closely at their dangerous history of medical mishaps based on the groups anti-psychiatry beliefs.
So while the in depth story at the Daily Mail has been pulled, we were fortunate to find that the internet savvy group and Scientology critics, Anonymous, have the full version of the story on their site. I will post after the jump in its entirety. If you are interested in additional commentary and other details about this story, visit the forum thread at WhyWeProtest.net.
Did John Travolta’s weird faith seal his son Jett’s fate?
By RICHARD PRICE
Last updated at 12:21 AM on 10th January 2009As he struggles to come to terms with the sudden and terrible death of his only son, John Travolta is no doubt grateful for the all-enveloping support of his fellow Scientologists.
Losing a child is an unbearable prospect for any parent. Having to cope with such a loss while countless millions around the globe gawp at your suffering is beyond comprehension.
When you are a Scientologist, however, different rules apply. Or at least they are supposed to. As an ‘Operating Thetan’ on the fifth level of enlightenment, Travolta should not be concerned with such trifles as mortality.
[Picture]
Family tragedy: John Travolta with his daughter Ella, son Jett and Wife Kelly PrestonAfter all, according to Scientology’s founder, L Ron Hubbard, the human body is nothing more than a vessel for drifting alien spirit.
It may sound like balderdash to most (and this, it should be noted, is one of the more believable aspects of the bizarre faith) but for Travolta and hundreds of thousands of fellow Scientologists, it is the truth and an undoubted source of comfort.
The death of 16-year-old Jett Travolta, however, has shed a new and distinctly unflattering light on the beliefs which are so fundamental to his parents’ lives.
Jett, who died of a seizure at the family’s holiday home in the Bahamas last weekend, had suffered from ill health throughout his all too brief life.
His parents controversially blamed a rare condition called Kawasaki disease, but according to doctors the syndrome has never been linked with seizures before.
[Picture]
Creator: The late L Ron Hubbard, creator of Scientology and science fiction writer, who died in 1986A far more likely explanation, many believe, is that Jett suffered from autism. The teenager, who was virtually mute, displayed many of the classic symptoms of the condition, which causes nearly a third of sufferers to develop seizures in adolescence.
Scientology, however, does not recognise autism as a valid condition. Its exponents believe all psychiatric and neurological disorders are psychosomatic and sufferers are exhorted to shun medication, relying on a course of vitamins and minerals instead.
It is a hugely controversial belief which detractors claim has caused many deaths, as well as ruining the lives of thousands of mentally ill individuals who have been drawn into Scientology.
This has raised a number of questions about the circumstances of Jett’s death and whether more could have been done to save his life.
A further number of discrepancies have been raised in the timeline of the boy’s death. Investigating officers have stated that Jett’s body had been left unattended for ten hours before he was found. A spokesman for the Travolta family vehemently denies this, claiming that the teenager was cared for round-the-clock by two nannies.
The man who found Jett close to death on the bathroom floor, Jeff Michael Kathrein, was one of these nannies. Despite his position of great responsibility - in his latter days Jett was suffering grand mal seizures twice a week - Kathrein has no apparent childcare or medical qualifications.
In fact, his day job is ostensibly as a photographer, running a small business with his wife.
[More.... link: John Travolta farewells tragic son Jett at memorial service... as friend Tom Cruise sends sympathies over 'horrific' loss ]
So why was he given the responsibility of looking after Jett? He is a fellow Scientologist, sharing the Travoltas’ outlandish belief that Thetans were imprisoned on Earth 75 million years ago by an evil alien dictator called Xenu.
It’s the wild allegations which have long surrounded Scientology, coupled with repeated damning testimonies from former church members, which raise such disturbing questions about the very nature of Scientology.
And in the case of Jett Travolta, there are many who believe he would still be alive today but for his parents’ slavish adherence to their religion’s controversial beliefs about mental health and neurology.
In their defence, the Travoltas have stated that Jett was on medication designed to control or prevent seizures but was taken off it after a doctor advised them it had become ineffective.
And there is no dispute that the Travoltas are convinced their guru L Ron Hubbard (or LRH as they reverently know him) was correct in damning conventional mental health professionals as ‘psychs’ - deeply unethical individuals who willfully cause untold damage to their patients.
On Kelly Travolta’s personal website there is a prominent photograph of her taking part in a hate rally against psychiatry. (Sample slogan: ‘Psychiatrists create stigma and harm children.’)
Yet despite their refusal to contemplate the prospect that Jett was autistic, many others were not so reticent.
[Picture]
Powerful: David Miscavige, leader of the Scientology religion and close friend of Tom Cruise - he was the best man at the actor’s wedding to Katie HolmesJohn Travolta’s older brother, Joey, is understood to have urged the couple for years to recognise their son’s condition. While refusing to go public on the subject, he has gone on to make a film about the disorder, titled Normal People Scare Me, and founded the group Actors For Autism.
Last year, the Travoltas’ neighbours, Tim and Patricia Kenny, proud parents of a five-year-old autistic girl, threatened to call in the social services over what they described as ‘abuse’ of Jett.
‘Scientology is keeping Travolta from acknowledging his son’s autism,’ said Mr Kenny. ‘They see it as a weakness.’
Mr Kenny claimed the family left the overweight Jett to sit in front of computer games all day, eating junk food.
Despite the criticism, the Travoltas have never acknowledged any suggestion that Jett may have been autistic. Instead, they have focused on Kawasaki disease, which, they claim, was brought on by overexposure to cleaning products, particularly carpet cleaner.
They have often talked publicly about the Scientology-based detoxification regime they used to cleanse Jett’s body.
Yet to the vast majority of medical professionals, the notion that such an approach could be used to treat seizures is nothing short of laughable.
One person who can provide first-hand insight into Scientology’s treatment of neurological disorders is Tory Christman, a member of the religion for more than 30 years until she left in 2000.
She was an epileptic using prescribed drugs to control her seizures but a few months after becoming a Scientologist she was told by an untrained ‘medical officer’ to come off her medication and take vitamins instead.
The cause of her problems, she was told, was not physical but psychosomatic, caused by people antagonistic towards her Scientology beliefs (or ’suppressives’, as they are known by the church).
‘I began having grand mal seizures at home, out on the street by myself and in the Scientology organisations - this was a living hell for me,’ she says. ‘This went on for three months. I was losing my memory due to all of the seizures.
‘Finally, one morning in the shower, I knocked my front teeth out during a grand mal seizure. All this time my mother was begging me to go back on my medication and, after so much trauma, I realised that I wasn’t going to live if I kept on doing this.’
Christman had the wisdom to ignore that aspect of Scientology and eventually left the religion, going on to become one of its more prominent critics. ‘I continue to speak out in the hope that anyone with any physical problems stays miles and miles away from Scientology,’ she says. ‘I cannot tell you how many people I know who have died from lack of correct medical help.’
Criticising Scientology in this manner is no small gesture. People identified as suppressives frequently find themselves hit with expensive legal action, picketing and death threats.
L Ron Hubbard introduced the Fair Game law, which stated that such people could legitimately be subject to ‘retaliation’. ‘They may be deprived of property or injured by any means by any Scientologist without any discipline of the Scientologist, may be tricked, sued or lied to or destroyed,’ he stated.
And while this law has since officially been rescinded, many witnesses insist the practice is very much in place - and is extended to family members and friends of people considered suppressive.
Undercover reporter Ian Halperin knows this only too well, as the only journalist to have successfully infiltrated Scientology.
He attended church meetings for more than a year and was even hooked up to the famous e-meter (effectively a rudimentary lie detector machine invented by LRH which measures minute changes in electrical resistance throughout the body).
Posing as an aspiring gay actor, he was informed that not only could Scientology help make him a star (with John Travolta and Tom Cruise cited as prominent success stories) but it could even ‘cure’ him of his homosexuality.
[Picture]
Power couple: Tom Cruise, who has been a Scientologist for 18 years, introduced his wife Katie Holmes to the religion when they started dating in 2005‘When I went along for the test, I didn’t have a care in the world but because I was posing as the nephew of a multi-millionaire who was interested in Scientology, I could see the dollar signs in their eyes,’ he says.
‘The test results apparently showed that I was “stressed, depressed, insecure, emotionally fragile and slightly unstable” - which was news to me. They said they could definitely help me with my homosexuality - even though I’m not gay - and that I needed auditing (Scientology-speak for religious therapy).’
When he finally revealed that he was a journalist, Halperin was granted an on-camera interview with a Scientology official, only to realise later that a shadowy figure was standing in the bushes filming him.
The subsequent premiere of his documentary on the religion had to be abandoned when it emerged at the last minute that the digital projector had been purposely infected with a number of computer viruses.
There followed a period of intense intimidation, relentless threatening phone calls and one very explicit death threat.
‘Having spent the previous two years researching the subject, I was only too aware of their intimidation tactics - and a number of suspicious deaths - so I ended up in hiding for three months,’ he says.
Another man who experienced the darker side of Scientology was Michael Pattinson, a prominent gay artist living in Los Angeles.
He actually sued the church, with John Travolta named as co-defendant, claiming that over the course of almost 25 years Scientology had promised to turn him straight and he had paid more than $500,000 in fees for ‘auditing’ to achieve this.
He says: ‘After that, I took even more courses and spent even more money, just waiting for the day when I would also be cured of what they called my “ruin”.’
In his 1998 lawsuit, Pattinson stated that Travolta ‘knowingly participated’ in Scientology’s repressive regime. It went on: ‘Defendant Travolta has known of Scientology’s “gulags” and “concentration camps”… through both personal observation and information received from a certain former Scientologist, but has deliberately chosen to turn a blind eye to their existence.’
Pattinson eventually dropped the action after running out of money. By this point the church had ploughed over £1.5million into the fight against him and showed no signs of relenting.
These are extraordinary claims, and yet there is strong evidence to suggest that people are held in custody against their will by the church of Scientology - particularly those who suffer from mental illness.
The biggest of these causes celebres is Lisa McPherson, who suffered a very public breakdown but was taken out of hospital against doctors’ wishes by Scientology handlers. Allowing psychiatric treatment - which she clearly desperately needed - was anathema to her fellow believers.
Seventeen days later she was dead, having been ‘treated’ for her psychosis with nothing more than vitamins and auditing. According to the coroner’s report, Lisa was substantially underweight, severely dehydrated and covered in bruises and insect bites. There was evidence that cockroaches had been feeding on her body even before she died.
Criminal charges were brought against the church but once again they were eventually dropped after Scientology’s astoundingly well-funded lawyers succeeded in discrediting the medical examiner.
This is not, however, an isolated case. Margarit Winkelmann, 51, walked fully clothed into the sea and drowned herself in January 1980 after she replaced her medically prescribed course of Lithium - a drug commonly used to control psychotic behaviour - with a course of vitamins and minerals recommended by the church.
[Picture][Picture][Picture]
Famous followers: Actress Kirstie Alley, singer Lisa Marie Presley and singer/actress Juliette Lewis all follow the faithHeribert Pfaff, 31, died of an apparent seizure at a prominent Scientology hotel after he was told to stop taking his epilepsy medication.
And Jeremy Perkins, a 28-year-old untreated paranoid schizophrenic raised as a Scientologist, murdered his own mother. The frenzied attack, in which he stabbed her 77 times, was carried out on LRH’s birthday.
Scientology officials say these deaths are isolated incidents and in each case refuse to accept any blame.
Just as in the case of Jett Travolta, however, nobody will ever know if things might have turned out differently had conventional medicine - and wisdom - been allowed to help these poor benighted souls.
The least they deserved was a chance to recover, with genuine science used to help them rather than the unabashed quackery which Scientologists spout with such vehemence.
But with poster boys like John Travolta and Tom Cruise as the spearhead of its marketing campaign, Scientology is gathering hundreds of new members with every passing day.
Now Will Smith, the most successful black actor on the planet, is showing signs that he may be about to join them, having handed out vouchers to the crew on a recent film entitling them to free personality tests at their nearest Scientology centre.
He also donated a million dollars to a school which uses Scientology teaching methods.
And so the slick and inexorable expansion of this dangerous religious cult continues unabated, helped on its way by the endorsement of privileged celebrities who have long since parted company from the reality of everyday life.
Meanwhile, all around the world at this very moment, thousands more children whose families are Scientologists are at risk of suffering the same fate as Jett Travolta. But you won’t hear the film stars talking about that.
As discussed above, there are now new reports suggesting there may be an investigation into the qualifications the “nanny” Jeff Kathrein had in order to be responsible for caring for Jett Travolta. Jeff, a fellow Scientologist, only formal credentials is as a wedding photographer, but he has been known to travel with the Travolta family on many of their trips, and was at the center of a controversy a couple of years ago because of a photo with he and John. The photograph showed Travolta hugging and kissing Kathrein on the lips as John was leaving his private jet. Travolta’s spokespeople immediately issued a statement saying John kisses everyone that way, and added that his wife, Kelly Preston was also on the plane. John Travolta has been plagued with rumors of homosexuality for years, and for some the picture with the smoking gun, for others, a mere blip of strangeness from a relatively eccentric and private celeb family.
The Travoltas are still mourning their loss, and John did not appear as a presenter at this Sunday’s Golden Globes. He was set to present with his Bolt co-star Miley Cyrus. The family left the Bahama’s early last week with Jett’s ashes and a private Scientology funeral was held Thursday. The Church has denied their teachings and beliefs had anything to do with Jett’s death and will likely continue to distant themselves and quash any news stories which imply otherwise. Glosslip, on the other the hand, feels it is important to pursue the link between Scientology’s beliefs and the continuation of mysterious deaths that seem to haunt to pseudo-religion.
(this is a rush copy - subject to final edit)
Pink Stripe WordPress Theme Designed by Joni Mueller &
Source? And it’s too late the article appeared in print and was read by up to 30 million readers. They just pulled it from the web.
Comment by anonv2.1 — January 12, 2009 @ 7:51 pm
Well, it’s not like Scientology can break into people’s homes and steal their papers. Or can they….
We all know, you especially Anon, that they are waging a losing battle to control the internet. Doesn’t stop them from trying though.
Comment by D — January 12, 2009 @ 8:01 pm
What in the world? I don’t get it. What’s in here that could possibly warrant a lawsuit against The Mail? And what did they say here that in any way poses a threat to Scientology? What are they hiding? I don’t see anything in this article that hasn’t been reported many times over all over the internet and in print. This is ridiculous. That article should go right back in print. Let ‘em sue.
Comment by Corinne — January 12, 2009 @ 8:13 pm
Autism is not a mental health condition.It is a neurological condition. Jett, according to several articles was on seizure meds which were not effective.
Comment by Kat Zamora — January 12, 2009 @ 8:43 pm
You can develop a tolerance for seizure meds, like many meds that you take long-term. Any neurologists would have simply switched him to another, not taken him off of all seizure control meds completely.
Comment by Corinne — January 12, 2009 @ 9:33 pm
Keep questioning Scientology.
Why pay for your faith?
Vitamins and minerals… c’mon.
Lisa Mcpherson, anyone?
Comment by Anonymous — January 12, 2009 @ 9:46 pm
Fact is, the kid died of seizures that were left untreated. The parents are in denial about their responsibility in this death, and whats worse is that the religion that led them into these beliefs is now denying any responsibility for the mindset the Travolta’s have.
The Travoltas are surrounded by scientologists 24/7 and do not hear any thoughts other than those the cult feeds them. Sad as it is, The family is left with a dead son and will eventually know they allowed it to happen.
Comment by A Father — January 12, 2009 @ 9:59 pm
Thanks for calling people’s attention to this!
Comment by Beth — January 12, 2009 @ 10:24 pm
I love you Dawn.
Comment by Bob — January 12, 2009 @ 10:39 pm
Dr. Joan Wood, the medical director discussed above was probably dosed with LSD. The typical way the cult does it is to put a dab in a person’s toothpaste.
If you have done acid before, it’s no big deal, but if you have not, you may spend a year in the mental ward getting over it. That was Dr. Wood’s fate.
If you doubt this story, look her up and ask for an interview.
Nasty bunch.
AnonXenu
Comment by anonxenu — January 12, 2009 @ 11:13 pm
The Daily Mail was at the forefront in questioning whether the lunacy of $cientology could have contributed to Jett’s death. I’m not in the least surprised at this turn of events. All $cientology has to do is threaten legal action for most organizations to pull articles. Their cadre of goon attorneys and never-ending supply of cash to pay them is no secret.
Kudos to you Dawn for re-posting.
Comment by Rachel — January 12, 2009 @ 11:37 pm
Great article! & for those of u who don’t know, the guy that reported Travolta to CPS committed suicide in May’08…also, the fact that the “nanny” wasn’t specifically trained, doesn’t bother me more than the parents not being trained to deal with stopping a seizure, there are medications to prevent seizures and meds to STOP seizures and any parent with a child that has epilepsy (generally defined as having more than one seizure, & not caused by high fever) KNOWS that there are meds to stop seizures, & they also know that seizures that go on and on can kill. Scientology is sick.
Comment by interested — January 13, 2009 @ 12:27 am
There’s nothing like a censorship move by Scientology, to eliminate once-and-for-all any lingering doubt that every word of the Mail article is the gospel truth.
Poor Travoltas. With friends like this, who needs enemies?
Comment by thedonzerlylight — January 13, 2009 @ 12:49 am
Great work, Dawn. Would you mind adding the word “his” before “son’s” to the title of the article. I tried googling the title as you put it and only Glosslip came up. I had to get creative to find the article on other sites.
Cheers.
Comment by Grace — January 13, 2009 @ 1:47 am
Perhaps Jett’s life and death will act as a catalyst in further exposure of the Church of Scientology.
I was very concerned for Jett for some time, ever since I saw the video of him in Paris. I am intimately familiar with autism and everything about him was wholly consistent with autism. I remarked to my husband that the only good thing in it was that Jett’s parents were rich and could afford to set up a trust fund for his ongoing care, since they wouldn’t get him any meaningful therapy (speech therapy, for example, or occupational therapy, neither of which is invasive and neither of which involve psychiatry), but I guess that won’t be necessary now…
My heart aches every time I think about this story and that boy.
Comment by Exyank — January 13, 2009 @ 1:53 am
I guess this is what Heber Jentsczh meant when he said,”Scientology brings you more and more freedom” on that 60 mintues episode. Just like our soon to be ex-president protected
freedom by spying on people and incarcerating people beyond the bounds of any law. I’m apolitical, that’s just another example I could think of, but if it smells like poop then it usually is.
Comment by bob dobbs — January 13, 2009 @ 2:57 am
Dawn, seriously?
You kick ass.
At least this explains why no comments showed up on the web article. Too bad it’s ALREADY IN PRINT.
Scientology= they just keep digging that grave deeper, don’t they?
Comment by A Watcher — January 13, 2009 @ 3:00 am
Bwahaha! Notice the exploding volcano ad for dianetics under the story…says… what is the source of irrational behavior? I`ll tell you one good reason for irrational behavior and that`s believing in dianetics and scientology! Stupid fools!
Comment by P. Nuttz — January 13, 2009 @ 4:12 am
Tory Christman claims that she was ordered off her seizure medication by the CoS but she forgets to say that such illegal orders were promptly overturned by higher CoS authorities, and that for the 30 years she was in Scientology she was allowed to take her anti-seizure medicine, as confirmed by her 2003 affidavit.
Google - “Tory Christman” affidavit 2003 -
Comment by apaheri — January 13, 2009 @ 4:53 am
“L Ron Hubbard introduced the Fair Game law,….And while this law has since officially been rescinded,….”
This is a small but often made mistake but I don’t know why it is made because in Hubbard’s written words it states very clearly
“The practice of declaring people FAIR GAME will cease. FAIR GAME may not appear on any Ethics Order. It causes bad public relations. This P/L does not cancel any policy on the treatment or handling of an SP.”
People may be misled by the title: ‘HCOPL 21 Oct 68 Cancellation of Fair Game’ and the cult members like to waste our time arguing about it. But the above paragraph is clear as day. There is no cause allowing for misinterpretation.
Comment by Madeleine — January 13, 2009 @ 8:27 am
Hubbard was a sci-fi writer! And not even a GOOD one!!!!!!!!!! That greasy bastid was a better CON MAN!! Why are people so gullible?
Comment by Domino — January 13, 2009 @ 8:39 am
I cannot fathom how presumably intelligent people like Cruise and Travolta (and they many others) were duped into believing the hogwash that is $cientology.
CAN ANYONE EXPLAIN HOW PEOPLE GET DRAWN INTO THIS CULT?
I can’t imagine what anyone could tell me or show me that would cause me to believe that my body is merely a vessel for a drifting alien spirit. And this Xenu character? Laughable! All of it! And why has so much faith been placed in LRH? How is it that his science fiction has been granted gospel status?
I know the cult mentality can be extremely powerful, and once you are in, it may be tough to get out. But what on earth could make an otherwise rational person ever look at this well-publicized cult and thing, hmmm, this looks like a lunatic cult that I’d like to become a member of… ????????????????????
Comment by glp — January 13, 2009 @ 9:49 am
Everyone is searching for something, something to believe in. Even people who don’t profess to believe in any one religion or any one god believe in that. And when you’ve got some fundamental part missing from your life, you’ll believe anything that scratches your itchy ears, especially when you’re at a low point in your life and things seem to be crashing down around you. Scientology is great at smelling fear, swooping in, finding that itch in your ear, and knowing just what to say to scratch it…and if you want to believe, you will believe.
Comment by k — January 13, 2009 @ 10:42 am
Poster #17 wrotes,
What this person fails to mention is, Scientology only allowed her special dispensation to take her anti-seizure meds after she severely harmed herself during a grand mal seizure!
Whatever motivated this poster’s foolish attack on Tory, it should be noted that Scientology hypocrisy allows for medication if the person is a valuable, productive cash cow!
Tory spent thousands of dollars on Scientology to reach the high level of OTVII. Scientology simply couldn’t afford to have such a superior being subject to uncontrollable seizures, especially not within view of those hoping to attain this level. If an OT, with promised powers over Mass, Energy, Space and Time cannot even control their own meat body, one might conclude that OT Powers are bunk.
This is the same reason the Travoltas so desperately cling to the Kawasaki Syndrome diagnosis for their son. Two OTs couldn’t possibly give birth to a defective child!
[edited by k with the HTML stuff]
Comment by imominous — January 13, 2009 @ 11:02 am
nice article Dawn. keep ‘em coming. the scilons thought 2008 was bad…it was warm up for this year.
Comment by mojo — January 13, 2009 @ 11:36 am
I soon as I saw it pulled it had to be Scientology doing there usual, so glad someone managed to copy it WELL DONE.
The only way round the legal threats from the scienutters, is for every publication on the same day all over the world, to produce an article, like this one, stating all the things wrong with the cult. Scientology would then have to contact all the publications and threaten to sue if articles not withdrawn. If they started legal action on all the publications, they would run out of the little money they now have. They cant sue if they dont have the funds, that just leaves them with the other threats, which are just words!!!!!!! Lets gets rid of these killers - please.
Comment by Cheryl — January 13, 2009 @ 12:29 pm
In Scientology all illness to a greater or lesser degree is called a PTS condition.
This means that a sick person is always a potential troublesource to whatever extent of such.
A PTS person is connected in someway to a suppressive person.
Scientology takes such “tech” as absolute meaning that any sick person is PTS.
The idea is to become cause to why a person is PTS.
This can include disconnection from a suppressive person.
A suppressive person is the devil of Scientology like how other religions have their devil Scientology has their SP’s.
Since Michael the Archangel made fair game of the devil on behalf of God then in Scientology making fair game of an SP is on behalf of the “tech” of Hubbard.
The son of Travolta was according to Scientology “tech” a PTS person as any illness is a PTS condition according to Scientology.
Hubbard himself was very PTS whilst dying according to his own “tech”.
He was suffering abdominal pains. He had a cancerous growth removed from his face & he died from a stroke.
The wheel turns.
Comment by Moneen — January 13, 2009 @ 12:39 pm
It is a sad day when evils, such a the church of scientology, try to blind the public to what they do.
anonymous wishes to tell the public what the church of scientology does
and anonymous is doing quite a nice job of it
Comment by anonymous — January 13, 2009 @ 1:07 pm
Jett was taken off meds with the approval of doctors.
it’s speculative to blame the religion.
Comment by kat zamora — January 13, 2009 @ 2:10 pm
How do you know this kat? Aren’t you yourself “speculating”?
And $cientology is not a ‘religion’, it was cloaked in religion for tax purposes, to avoid fair labor laws and as a shield from lawsuits when their quackery kills.
Comment by Rachel — January 13, 2009 @ 2:39 pm
^ And just WHO were these doctors, kat? I’d like to know so they can get their asses sued for negligence.
You never, EVER take someone off seizure meds and not put them on another one. No ‘breaks’, as some seem to think; you look for one that works and go from there. While meds may not stop seizures completely, they can be lessened to a great extent. To take someone off their seizure meds and not put them on another is DANGEROUS and as proven with poor Jett, can be FATAL.
Comment by A Watcher — January 13, 2009 @ 3:13 pm
Way to start the year out Dawn! This post was a home run over the fence and into the bay. This is one of the better articles I’ve seen on the cult in a long time. I just finished John Duignan’s poignant autobiography on his 22 years lost to the Sea Org and so between this article, the book and Tommy Davis’ creepy apologetics on the tube I’m filled with fresh outrage at the cult and ready to don my Guy Fawkes mask and hit the streets!
Comment by Artoo45 — January 13, 2009 @ 3:18 pm
Only a quack doctor would allow tonic clonic (grand mal) seizures to be uncontrolled. What about the ketogenic diet? ANY neurologist would have prescibed diastat to be given within 3-5 minutes of the onset of a seizure even if there was no ongoing medication prescribed to PREVENT the seizure. But whatever….in biblical times it was thought that people who seizured or had a disability that caused uncontrolled movements were possessed by the devil, so I guess in this day and age there are going to be those who believe in xenu & PTS’s & SP’s…it’s my opinion that it’s a sick cult, and I’d been worried about Jett ever since I saw that crazy tom cruise video and started internet researching children of scientologist and if any happened to have a child with a disability.
Comment by interested — January 13, 2009 @ 3:18 pm
“CAN ANYONE EXPLAIN HOW PEOPLE GET DRAWN INTO THIS CULT?”
Deception, manipulation, and exploitation. Find people when they are weak, depressed, going through hard times, or emotionally unsound and take advantage of it. You don’t have to be stupid to fall for it; plenty of intelligent people have. The Clams know what to look for, how to zoom in on a person’s weakness. That’s why they always show up to do those stupid “touch assists” at disaster sites, like after Hurricane Katrina. If you had lost everything you owned, were hungry, desperate, homeless and penniless and someone came along and told you they could fix it and make everything okay again, how badly would you want to believe them?
Comment by Emily — January 13, 2009 @ 4:15 pm
Thank you K and Emily for addressing my question. I do understand that cults prey on the weak, whatever their weakness may be… I guess I just have a hard time reconciling that with how someone like Tom Cruise, or John Travolta might have been drawn in. Apparently they were searching for something or had a need that the cult met?? But these weren’t people down on their luck, or faced with a disaster, etc. These are people who seemed to have it together, at least from my very limited perspective. I don’t know. The ideologies of $cientology just seem so preposterous and potentially dangerous, that it would seem that any thinking being could see them for what they are.
Comment by glp — January 13, 2009 @ 5:19 pm
The scienos top PR man in UK is Bob Keenan and this tactic is typical of him. What a bigot. He claimed publicly that his back condition was cured by dianetics, but that was lie. In fact, last year he had to have a major back operation which he is still recovering from months later. Wow, what happened to your amazing tech, Keenan? BK still works part time and undoubtedly had something to do with the Daily Mail censorship. I guess this whole “Scientology cures medical conditions” flap is hitting home pretty hard, eh Bob? You lied about your bogus cure and finally had to get medical treatment, and now here you are covering your church’s ass by suppressing the truth about how Jett’s death really went down. Jett was autistic, was getting seizures and Travolta knew it. He was taken off the meds. Now he is dead and the cover up is in full swing. How do you look at yourself in the mirror every morning Keenan? You are supposedly L. Ron Hubbard’s big shot PR man in UK. Well by definition you are a total failure. LRH’s PR is atrocious and you know it. His “tech” will NEVER be accepted broadly throughout the UK. You are a FAILURE.
Comment by Dog Fight — January 13, 2009 @ 5:37 pm
But celebs have some of the biggest egos, combined with some of the most fragile egos, of anyone. They need CONSTANT affirmation that they are the best, the brightest, the prettiest, the smartest, the biggest draw. Their egos are like those supersized bubbles you see in competitions…gigantic, but a single bump can shatter them. And from what I’ve seen, Tom Cruise has an ego of massive proportions. Can you imagine how deflated that ego could get?
When their career starts to take a downturn for whatever reason, their fragile egos take a huge beating, and they need someone to come along and build that ego back up again and tell them everything is going to be just fine because we have the answer for all your problems, LRH’s Wonderful Magical Elixir. Guaranteed to cure what ails you…only millions of dollars and your eternal soul per bottle.
Comment by k — January 13, 2009 @ 5:44 pm
KUDOS to you Dawn!
Thanks for posting this very important atticle. The Mail finally did an article which airs out alot of $cientology’s dirty laundry.
Comment by The Cult is Going Down — January 13, 2009 @ 5:57 pm
“The practice of declaring people FAIR GAME will cease. FAIR GAME may not appear on any Ethics Order. It causes bad public relations. This P/L does not cancel any policy on the treatment or handling of an SP.”
It said to stop labeling them FAIR GAME. Not to disengage in the practice of it. It was a move to get the press off their asses.
Comment by chris — January 13, 2009 @ 6:00 pm
“What this person fails to mention is, Scientology only allowed her special dispensation to take her anti-seizure meds after she severely harmed herself during a grand mal seizure!”
Just see for yourself. Google - “Tory 2003 affidavit” and compare it to what she is saying today.
One unqualified staff in 1972 got the order overturned by Hubbard himself. in 1979 she decided to stop her medication on her own, without any influence of the CoS. In 1989 the whole staff was sent on review when a 15 year old boy trying to stop her taking her medication. She spent 30 years in Scientology while being allowed on her meds.
No “special dispensation”. There is a C/S bulletin that says people should not be forced off of their medication. It applies to everybody. Read the above affidavit from Tory herself. It’s all in there.
“Whatever motivated this poster’s foolish attack on Tory”
Asking people to compare her own words from 2003 to what she is saying now is a “foolish attack”? Just see for yourself.
“it should be noted that Scientology hypocrisy allows for medication if the person is a valuable, productive cash cow!”
Tory’s incident was in 1972 without any cash involved as she was on staff. The only cash involved was in 1989, nearly 20 years later, and only a fraction of what people spend normally on Scientology. She certainly was not a cash cow. The CS bulletin applies to everybody, not just to her.
You can try to dismiss facts because these contradict your hatred of Scientology, but anybody more interested in the truth than you can compare the two versions and see that Tory is lying her teeth out today.
By the way, only a gossip rag like the Daily Mail are picking on such blatantly falsehood and libelous news. If they checked their facts before hand it would not be so easy for the CoS to force their article down.
Comment by apaheri — January 13, 2009 @ 6:22 pm
glp, I figure it has to do with the way Hubbard, the founder of the $ciCult, told his followers that celebrities were in some way more highly spiritually evolved (or whatever the $ciJargon is for that) than the average man. This instilled an almost literal sense of celebrity worship in his followers.
Now imagine that you are an affection-starved celebrity who adores and desires the approval of your fans. Suddenly you find yourself surrounded by seemingly “influential spiritual leaders” who tell you all kinds of ways that you can help them on their quest to help others. They tell you how you can use your fame and influence to help get kids of drugs (including the ones they may actually need), or teach the illiterate to read (cult scripture, books by hubbard or the cult’s pay2pray price list) and reach out to impoverished nations and natural disasters (cuz who needs food and water when someone can just “touch” you while they tell you all about how great their cult is). Soon, you find yourself completely embraced by a group of people where it seems you can do no wrong. Even if you mess up, they cover for you before it gets to the press and tell you it’s never your fault. They make you feel like even if your fans turn on you or forget you, the cult will still worship you - for as long as you still have money or influence.
For the the most part though, I can’t imagine it’s much different than how even some of the most intelligent and rational people can still end up in abusive relationships and situations.
Comment by liz — January 13, 2009 @ 6:27 pm
Wow! Thanks for this amazing article on the evils of scientology.
Jett’s death caused me to go out and search the internet for the evils of this cult. Since he died, I have spent hours and hours reading forums on this cult. I am utterly astounded by what this cult is capable of and even more amazed with what they get away with.
Reading all the stories online, Tory’s, Jenna’s the amazing work by anonymous (see you at the next picket), has been very very eye opening.
Comment by skollie — January 13, 2009 @ 6:55 pm
[...] via GlossLip » Glosslip Exclusive: Daily Mail Threatened By Church of Scientology, Forced To Pull Travo…. [...]
Pingback by Not surprising: CoS threatens Daily Mail « i get pissed — January 13, 2009 @ 8:13 pm
good for you skollie! I became interested in $cientology after they tried to block the re-broadcast of South Park’s “Trapped In The Closet”. If you haven’t seen it you can view it in full here:
http://www.southparkstudios.com/guide/912
Hysterical!
Comment by Rachel — January 13, 2009 @ 11:43 pm
‘You can try to dismiss facts because these contradict your hatred of Scientology, but anybody more interested in the truth than you can compare the two versions and see that Tory is lying her teeth out today.’
Then perhaps, apaheri, you could take the time to explain this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMom3y1zyZU
It’s audio of L. Ron Hubbard lecturing on epileptics and their medication. Wherein he refers to it as ‘gobbledygook’.
Yes, it IS real audio. Yes, Tory WAS forced off her epilepsy meds and had to FIGHT COS management for YEARS to get back on them. Explain to me why ANYONE should have to fight to get back on life-saving meds.
Comment by A Watcher — January 13, 2009 @ 11:55 pm
I had recent occasion to help a teenage girl get off Depakote, the seizure medication Jett was on. She wasn’t on it for seizures, as she had none, but because her college shrink thought she needed drugs to help her over her first scary weeks at college.
You should do this exercise. Google DEPAKOTE DANGERS and compile all you find. It totals a few pages.
As to the person who was asked to stop taking anti-seizure medication, note that in Februray 2008, the FDA published a warning that seizure meds increase risk of suicide.
Somebody probably did her a life-saving favor and all you can do is address the issue one-sidedly.
Comment by AnnoyinglyAlert — January 14, 2009 @ 4:30 am
from that video:
“But the doctors keep them on something to prevent this. Its just a tranquilizer and they keep them on that one year, year in and year out. And then you come along as an auditor and you try to audit the pc and you tell the pc that hell have to go off that drug. And then all of a sudden, why something will happen from someplace or another that the pc will tell the doctor that they have been taken off the drug by the auditor. And the doctor will call up plaintively asking you to please put her back on the drug because she needs this.”
Nah, nothing dangerous there. I think it’s fabulous that L Ron Hubbard and untrained cult auditors are making decisions for people of a medical nature. What could POSSIBLY go wrong?
Comment by Rachel — January 14, 2009 @ 11:17 am
“Yes, Tory WAS forced off her epilepsy meds”
She was forced off of it in 1972 by an unqualified staff. That order was reversed by Hubbard himself. In 1989 the whole staff was sent to cramming by the senior C/S for trying to stop her on her medication.
It certainly proves that the CoS did not try to stop her. Some unqualified staff did and the situation was duly corrected.
Yet, she omits all of this in her statements to the press and only relates the initial episode where the unqualified staff illegally ordered her off of her medication.
“and had to FIGHT COS management for YEARS to get back on them. ”
From 1969 to 1972, she was on her meds. That’s three years.In 1972, for three months she tried unsuccessfully to get off of them. That order was reversed and for the following 17 years she had to fight nothing at all and she was on her med, and she went up to OT while still on her medication. Exception for some time in 1979 when she tried to stop again but this time on her own volition without any order from the CoS. During the 1989 incident she did not stop her medication. She did had to fight to appeal the order. She stayed another 11 years after that, going up the bridge while still on medication.
That’s a total of 30 years on her meds, with an interruption of 3 months when she was illegally asked to get off of them, plus some time when she herself tried to get off of them without any order from the CoS.
It certainly is not true that she had to fight COS management for years to get back on them. That’s what she says but that’s just yet another lie. One of her numerous changes of story about which Anonymous warned her already back when they virtually expelled her for her “”deceitful and manipulative ways” and warned her “we recommend that in your future contacts with the media you learn to keep your story straight”.
She can’t keep her story straight ever. She appears to be a pathological liar.
“Explain to me why ANYONE should have to fight to get back on life-saving meds.”
Simple - it just isn’t true that she had to fight for years, and the CoS proper authorities certainly have demonstrated that they are not against her taking her meds. Yet, she is blaming the whole COS for systematically preventing people from taking their medication, and using her own example on the initial illegal order, blanking out all the rest that is contradicting her claim.
The more she peddles this lie, the more she tries to justify it, and the more critics fail to call her on it, the less critics will be credible.
Comment by apaheri — January 14, 2009 @ 7:19 pm
You know apaheri if the only problem with this whole sordid affair was that Tory was being “deceitful” does not explain the thousands of stories, court documents, testimonies,leaked documents, videos of actual scientologists caught in their lies, litigations and fair game tactics of the CoS. What does it take for a scientologist to believe other than what LRon wrote? As someone whose father was a veteran I take great umbrage to that asshole claiming medals which he did not earned and falsely promote himself as a war hero which his own service records clearly and irrefutably show he LIED! He never graduated from University yet claims a Doctorate Degree in Nuclear Physics. There is enough out there that it does not take a Rocket Scientist to at least demand an open inquiry into all this wrong doing. The Catholic Church finally had to fess up and it’s own parishioners demanded action. It did not mean they stopped believing in Christ but they demanded accountability from it’s leaders, the orgamnizational structure. What are your crimes scientologists and what are you so afraid of? Could it be the truth? Is it you’d rather continue to believe in the illusion even if it’s a lie? Jeebus no wonder you are so against psych drugs. No drug on this planet can compare to the mind set of a devoted scientologist. “All I know is it works and it helps people”(Dan Murnan).
Comment by Mitsu Too — January 14, 2009 @ 7:42 pm
apaheri, the cult should never have tried to express authority in medical matters of ANY kind to begin with. It is extremely irresponsible behavior and the cult still does not take adequate measures to ensure that it’s members understand that the cult’s unqualified medical opinion is nothing more than that.
You can attack Tory’s credibility all you like, but she’s not the only one with things to say about her experience with the cult.
Comment by liz — January 14, 2009 @ 7:44 pm
‘Jett was taken off meds with the approval of doctors.’
Actually, Kat, there is no evidence that this is the case. If I were a lawyer representing the interests of the Travoltas, and I knew that they had taken their son off of medication against the advice of qualified medical professionals, then I would have said exactly what the lawyer said: that after consulting with neurosurgeons, they decided to take him off of the medication. The statement implies that they were following the advice of the neurosurgeons in doing so, when in fact we are told nothing about what the position of the neurosurgeons might have been.
Comment by David W — January 14, 2009 @ 10:05 pm
While I am a believer in the freedom of speech, I am also a believer in having integrity,compassion and ethics…let this family grieve in peace and private,they have lost their child!!!!!!..why would anyone want to now attack their religion is not only immoral, but just down right low.so in closing…..all though I am not a scientologist…I think it was by very poor taste that you even posted the story in the first place…Just as there is the right to freedom of speech,there is the right to choose ones religion and faith. we all have freedom of choice as well and how what and when we chose to exercise these rights is open…but come on….Compassion people.They have lost a child.: (
Comment by Miss B — January 14, 2009 @ 10:55 pm
Miss B, most of the posters here (not including apaheri and kat zamora) have shown nothing BUT integrity, compassion and ethics. To NOT question the circumstances surrounding Jett Travolta’s death would be irresponsible and show a complete lack of any integrity, compassion, or ethics. We are trying to draw attention to a real issue, that is; did Jett Travolta die as a result of Scientology doctrine? And given the OVERWHELMING evidence available at Wikileaks and testimony from ex-members like Tory Christman and Jenna Hill, the answer could very well be a resounding ‘Yes!’
Are you suggesting that we shouldn’t even SPECULATE the circumstances surrounding his death? Miss B, I have been following Scientology VERY CLOSELY the past year. I have read sworn affidavits, personal accounts of abuse, secret documents, watched hours of video and reports on the COS. How much research have YOU done? It would be far more immoral NOT to examine the circumstances surrounding Jett’s death.
There is considerable evidence to suggest that Jett was autistic. This video for one. Observe him closely. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Iz7dopJrtE
Why would his parents each need to hold his hand? Why did the body guard have to buckle him in? Look at his face; I’ve seen that same expression on a young autistic relative of mine.
If Jett had indeed died as a result of Scientology’s ‘doctrine’, shouldn’t that be called to the forefront? And to call Scientology a ‘religion’ is to give the cresidence where NONE is deserved.
And if you think Jett’s story is sad, go to exscientologykids.com and read the stories on their ‘Voices In Unison’ page. The stories there would make a grown man cry like a baby.
Comment by A Watcher — January 15, 2009 @ 12:43 am
Miss B
Like you, I too am not a scientologist. My heart breaks for the Travolta family as I cannot imagine the pain they must be in. However, please do spend some time reading as much as you can regarding this topic. It pained me so much that this child died way too young, that I went out searching for some answers. Educate yourself about scientology and you’ll understand a bit better.
Comment by Miss A — January 15, 2009 @ 2:14 am
“You know apaheri if the only problem with this whole sordid affair was that Tory was being “deceitful” does not explain the thousands of stories, court documents, testimonies,leaked documents, videos of actual scientologists caught in their lies, litigations and fair game tactics of the CoS. What does it take for a scientologist to believe other than what LRon wrote?”
Of course not, I never claimed it does.However that’s just an example. It shows we should be at least critical in the true sense of the term and check out the facts to make sure they are true. If the Daily Mail had done it would be much more difficult for the CoS to take the article down, if that’s what happened.
“apaheri, the cult should never have tried to express authority in medical matters of ANY kind to begin with.”
That’s true. If Tory’s story was that one and if she had put it in context, I would have no problem with it. The problem is that she recounts only that episode as if it was the whole story, blanking out all the rest that in fact contradicts what she presents as the whole story. She is manipulating the truth to capitalize on the wave of emotion that followed Jett’s tragic death. That’s what I find unacceptable.
“It is extremely irresponsible behavior and the cult still does not take adequate measures to ensure that it’s members understand that the cult’s unqualified medical opinion is nothing more than that.”
I am not sure what you mean by adequate measure. There are clear disclaimers in every book. Also, “Scientology now has numerous signs all over their “Churches” stating “Scientology does not cure people and IF you have a medical problem, to go see a Doctor”.” - you know where that quote came from? Again from Tory’s affidavit. Easy to verify, just google - Tory 2003 affidavit”.
She also writes about the fact that the whole Flag Land base was sent to cramming after they tried to stop her on her medication. Now if that’s not an adequqte measure, I don’t know what is.
She also mentions a C/S bulletin that was written at the time: “The C/S bulletin says that if someone has tried to get off of medication and they cannot, and they have an OK from their Doctor, they should not be stopped from getting auditing!!!”
Now that bulletin was written in 1989, that’s 20 years before Jett’s death. I don’t know for sure but I guess it still must be in application. Then we have the statement of Tommy Davis which is what Scientologists will undoubtedly quote. Plus we can safely assume that after the Jett Travolta tragedy the CoS will put in some extra emphasizing on their position regarding medical treatment within the CoS itself.
So, I am not sure what you mean by adequate and how you would know it is not.
“You can attack Tory’s credibility all you like, but she’s not the only one with things to say about her experience with the cult.”
That’s true. There have been other ones who spoke on this topic. But all the ones I saw so far have said the same thing: that they are or were allowed on their anti-seizure medication, or that they have first hand knowledge of people who are:
“I took an epilepsy medication called Topamax for over a year and my family in Scientology didn’t freak out in the least. It was a powerful medication, so they were concerned–but they didn’t try to talk me out of taking it. And when it helped they were happy that it worked for me.”
Address :
“I have a friend who is epileptic and a Scientologist and she takes her meds and does Scientology and has for years.”
Address :
“I can add some personal experience to this, namely from knowing two epileptics and Scientologists who are taking their medicine regularly. ”
Address :
“For example, my neighbor, who is a Scientologist, has a child who is autistic. She has a doctor she takes her boy to and she follows the treatment program the doctor prescribes.”
Address :
Comment by apaheri — January 15, 2009 @ 7:28 pm
Damn, the post swallowed the address maybe because I used carets that may be HTML. I tried to repost in proper HTML but it didnot work so I will just remove the carets now:
“I took an epilepsy medication called Topamax for over a year and my family in Scientology didn’t freak out in the least. It was a powerful medication, so they were concerned–but they didn’t try to talk me out of taking it. And when it helped they were happy that it worked for me.”
Address : http://scarlettscion.blogspot.com/2009/01/ubiquitous-jett-travolta-post.html
“I have a friend who is epileptic and a Scientologist and she takes her meds and does Scientology and has for years.”
Address : http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1357725/jett_travolta_did_scientology_kill.html?cPage=4&cat=5#comments
“I can add some personal experience to this, namely from knowing two epileptics and Scientologists who are taking their medicine regularly. ”
Address : http://scientologymyths.wordpress.com/2009/01/04/scientology-and-medical-treatment/#comment-3233
“For example, my neighbor, who is a Scientologist, has a child who is autistic. She has a doctor she takes her boy to and she follows the treatment program the doctor prescribes.”
Address : http://myscientology.blogspot.com/2009/01/scientology-and-medicine.html?showComment=1231199340000#c7536943435974771371
Comment by apaheri — January 15, 2009 @ 7:39 pm
(Sorry, the addresses have been swallowed by Glosslip, probably because I used caret. I don’t seem to be able to add a correction now. I guess Glosslip only allows one post a day per person to avoid spam. Let me try posting this using a different name)
Damn, the post swallowed the address maybe because I used carets that may be HTML. I tried to repost in proper HTML but it didnot work so I will just remove the carets now:
“I took an epilepsy medication called Topamax for over a year and my family in Scientology didn’t freak out in the least. It was a powerful medication, so they were concerned–but they didn’t try to talk me out of taking it. And when it helped they were happy that it worked for me.”
Address : http://scarlettscion.blogspot.com/2009/01/ubiquitous-jett-travolta-post.html
“I have a friend who is epileptic and a Scientologist and she takes her meds and does Scientology and has for years.”
Address : http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1357725/jett_travolta_did_scientology_kill.html?cPage=4&cat=5#comments
“I can add some personal experience to this, namely from knowing two epileptics and Scientologists who are taking their medicine regularly. ”
Address : http://scientologymyths.wordpress.com/2009/01/04/scientology-and-medical-treatment/#comment-3233
“For example, my neighbor, who is a Scientologist, has a child who is autistic. She has a doctor she takes her boy to and she follows the treatment program the doctor prescribes.”
Address : http://myscientology.blogspot.com/2009/01/scientology-and-medicine.html?showComment=1231199340000#c7536943435974771371
Comment by apaheri2 — January 15, 2009 @ 8:00 pm
apaheri
Please stop falling back on the Tory thing. Just like the Cult of $cientology you only seem able to beat just one dead horse.
Address the fact that Co$ is just a money hungry cult, fair game, and how it goes as far as it can to silence it’s critics. Tell us what you think of the fact that Hubbard was found with enough drugs to put down an elephant in his system upon death.
Lisa McPherson ring a bell?
Respond to that without mentioning Tory. Try thinking for yourself.
Comment by DD — January 15, 2009 @ 10:56 pm
“If the Daily Mail had done it would be much more difficult for the CoS to take the article down, if that’s what happened.”
You’re kidding, right? I thought it was common knowledge that a simple threat by the cult, with their leigon of slimy lawyers, is generally all that’s needed to get an article taken down. (Or a book-The Complex ring a bell?)
The Daily Mail could be 100% correct, but do they want to go up against $cientology with the cult’s unlimited supply of cash and long history of litigating to into bankruptcy anyone they perceive as an enemy?
(Or worse, Paulette Cooper ring a bell? How about CAN?)
Why did Hubbard say this about seizures?
“But the doctors keep them on something to prevent this. Its just a tranquilizer and they keep them on that one year, year in and year out. And then you come along as an auditor and you try to audit the pc and you tell the pc that hell have to go off that drug. And then all of a sudden, why something will happen from someplace or another that the pc will tell the doctor that they have been taken off the drug by the auditor. And the doctor will call up plaintively asking you to please put her back on the drug because she needs this.”
Comment by Rachel — January 15, 2009 @ 11:19 pm
Autism is not a psychological disorder, it is a neurological disorder and thus not within the realm of “psychosomatic” illnesses as described by the Church of Scientology. If the Travoltas’ son was indeed autistic, there would have been no problem from the Church if they treated him as such.
The only suspicious note in this tragedy is the fact that his nanny’s medical credentials are suspect (if not entirely fictional).
Comment by TunaGhost — January 16, 2009 @ 12:38 am
[...] is a summary extract from the full article as it appeared on Glossip, Jan. 2009 (Full Article [Cached]) which cites the full article at WhyWeProtest Full Article [...]
Pingback by Daily Mail Threatened By Church of Scientology - Cult information from cult expert Steve Hassan — January 16, 2009 @ 5:23 pm
My son suffers from epilepsy.
He lost oxygen at birth due to the cord nearly choking him to death.
As a result he is special needs.
I have met many special needs children, and I’ve never heard of anyone having seizures due to autism.
I’m not saying it doesn’t exist, but in the course of my son going to special ed schooling we’ve met every medical condition that probably exists in children, and some have autism.
Epilepsy is the result of a brain injury.
That injury can occur at birth, and usually surfaces before a child turns 18. Adults can develop epilepsy later in life but that is generally due to a severe blow to the head, ie: car accident, fall, etc.
The Travoltas lawyer put out a statement that they had Jett on Depakote. My son is on that medication.
The lawyer said that Jett was having 4 seizures a week, was put on Depakote which reduced the seizures to 1 every 3 weeks. Over time, he said, the seizures returned to once a week. He also went on to say that the Depakote was harming his liver, and that after consulting with their doctor, the doctor agreed Jett should be taken off the Depakote. First, that is malpractice IMO, and second yes, it can hurt your liver but that is why you do at the very least 2 blood workups per year.
Over time you can build a resistance to a certain medicationsfor seizures, and will have seizures, and if you gain weight for example the dosage needs to be increased or it will become less effective.
My son is on Depakote, but he hasn’t been throughout his life. When another medication wasn’t working and he had a breakout seizure the medications have been changed. If the Depakote wasn’t working for their son another could have been added, like Tegretol.
Depakote is not the only medication for epilespy on the market.
Any doctor who takes a child off anti seizure medication, especially one experiencing grand mal seizures is out of their minds. That’s why I can’t believe the lawyers statement.
If Jett’s seizure were not controlled or couldn’t be did the Travoltas ever try the diet of high fat? Did they explore surgery which has in a lot of cases ended seizures for children like Jett who had so many seizures?
I don’t know what Scientologists believe, but if they can’t accept flaws in a human being, or refuse to believe that some people do have afflictions involving the brain then why would they medicate the brain?
Comment by Beth — January 16, 2009 @ 5:34 pm
I will try to answer in just one post because yesterday I tried to post the missing links of my post and I could not so I figured that one can only post once a day or that there should be a delay between two consecutive posts or something like that. I will see if this one goes through.
“apaheri
“Please stop falling back on the Tory thing. Just like the Cult of $cientology you only seem able to beat just one dead horse.
Address the fact that Co$ is just a money hungry cult, fair game, and how it goes as far as it can to silence it’s critics. Tell us what you think of the fact that Hubbard was found with enough drugs to put down an elephant in his system upon death.”
I am not going to address some old topics because I think it is not the place here to enter in a full debate about things that have been beaten to death already.
Nor do I “fall back on Tory”. I answer to arguments that has been made about it. If you have no more things to say about it I won’t either.
“You’re kidding, right? I thought it was common knowledge that a simple threat by the cult, with their leigon of slimy lawyers, is generally all that’s needed to get an article taken down. (Or a book-The Complex ring a bell?)”
It is my opinion that if a newspaper felt that there was no ground for litigation, they would not just put the article down upon a simple notice.
“Why did Hubbard say this about seizures?
But the doctors keep them on something to prevent this. Its just a tranquilizer and they keep them on that one year, year in and year out. And then you come along as an auditor and you try to audit the pc and you tell the pc that hell have to go off that drug. And then all of a sudden, why something will happen from someplace or another that the pc will tell the doctor that they have been taken off the drug by the auditor. And the doctor will call up plaintively asking you to please put her back on the drug because she needs this.”
The remark he makes on this tape means that you can get in severe trouble trying to get epileptics off their medication. That I know, Church practice in 2009 still is not to interfere in epilepsy medication.
Comment by apaheri — January 16, 2009 @ 7:28 pm
“It is my opinion that if a newspaper felt that there was no ground for litigation, they would not just put the article down upon a simple notice.”
Aphari there is a reason why the phrase “Sue them in England” exists. Whereas in US courts the person doing the suing has to prove how they were harmed or libeled, in England the person being sued has to prove everything that is printed. England is known as the Mecca for libel tourism which is why so many books end up not being sold in England. People from all over then world that aren’t even British citizens can sue any author, newspaper, publisher, etc. even if they also do not live in England for libel. Even if you choose to ignore the lawsuit you risk having a judgement against you in “absentia” because you did not respond. So it is not so “simple” as you put it. Do you believe that LRH was a war hero BTW since you did not respond to that earlier?
Comment by Mitsu Too — January 16, 2009 @ 9:13 pm
“The remark he makes on this tape means that you can get in severe trouble trying to get epileptics off their medication. That I know, Church practice in 2009 still is not to interfere in epilepsy medication.”
On what planet-Teegeeack?
Comment by Rachel — January 17, 2009 @ 12:37 am
Not to mention that Scientology has its army of lawyers and plenty of money; even if the judgement is eventually in the Daily Mail’s favour, they could quite possibly bankrupt the Daily Mail from the legal fees.
Comment by HOS — January 18, 2009 @ 9:05 am
Aphari,
Are you kidding me? OT’s are not suppose to have epilepsy or any other physical problem for that matter! It is just an engram that should have been ran out when the person went clear.
Plus, Depakote IS a psyche drug (in scientology) which would have meant if Jett took it then he is an illegal P.C. And so are those other people taking meds that are used to treat psyche disorders as well as seizures. You cannot get auditing if you are on seizure meds!!!! AND IT IS A LIE THAT YOU ARE ALLOWED TO TAKE SEIZURE MEDS PAST THE STATE OF CLEAR. YOU SHOULD NOT NEED THEM!!!! So Tommy Davis lied his butt off on t.v to make it sound like people are allowed to take their meds, they’re NOT! OT’s are considered to be a new race called “Homo Novis” and are not suseptible to physical ailments anymore. Meaning they can cure themselves because they have “super powers” to do so because they went OT.
Comment by Over and out.... — January 25, 2009 @ 5:47 pm
apaheri = Tommy Davis?
Comment by Jamie Jackson — April 29, 2009 @ 4:19 pm
What really needs to be known is whether they took blood samples post-mortem which would show if he had anti seizure meds on board. It is correct that you change one med for another if there are side effects and you never leave someone off seizure meds when they are having two grand mal seizures a day. the Travoltas in Scn have “pulled this in” namely that they did something that incurred Jetts’ problems. This is handled with auditing and if you have read the Anderson Report or Ask the Scientologist-thought control you will realize just how pernicious auditing is. This is very sad but Travolta will not understand its consequences.
Comment by questions — May 21, 2009 @ 6:35 am