Glosslip Radio is excited to welcome two ex-Scientologists, visual artist Michael Pattinson and anti-Scientology activist and 27-year Sea Org veteran Chuck Beatty.

Both of these individuals have compelling stories to tell about their experiences within the secretive inner sanctum of the Church of Scientology.

Sunday’s show will start at an earlier time to accomodate the two guests, please make note of the early start time

SUNDAY APRIL 13, 9:00PM EST, CLICK HERE TO LISTEN.
CALL IN NUMBER - (646) 478-0139

Michael Pattinson, featured in Ian Halperin’s film His Highness Hollywood, is currently embroiled in major lawsuit with the Church of Scientology over claims they made of being able to cure him of his homosexuality. After spending close to $500,000 on courses and reaching the coveted OT Level 8, Pattinson realized he had been mislead, defrauded and had his artistic career derailed due to his involvement with the Church of Scientology. For information on his lawsuit, go here. For details on his artist career, please visit his site.

Chuck Beatty is a prolific web commenter and an all around nice guy who has done his best to help those still in the CoS, deprogram themselves and leave. Here’s some background on his story from the Church of Scientology, including a long career in the Sea Org and lengthy stints in the “RPF”, Rehabilitation Project Force, also known as the CoS “gulag.” More on Chuck here.

I was a 27-year staffer in the “Vatican” elite staff echelon of Scientology, called the Sea Organization, all lifetime staffer level, it is comparable to the religious orders of other traditional religions, in that one is expected to remain Sea Org staff for life. I was in it from Dec 1975 until March 2003, 27 years.

I spent my last 6-7 years in the “Rehabilitation Project Force” the redemption semi prison system for fallen lifetime staffers, I failed at that redemption program and chose to leave my lifetime staff
and then all my FLICKR photos, the one of me with the students, when I was a training supervisor, was taken in Clearwater in 1981, at the height of my “training supervisor” responsibilities, I trained the executives that run the churches worldwide.

I have a long staff bio, roughly I worked in the training area, then compilations area, then computer area, those are the 3 main areas I worked in most of my career as Scientology staff.

I left staff in March 29, 2003, and surfed the internet for a year, moved out of the Scientology community, and then began speaking up on the internet.

I consider myself a moderate unrealistic hopeful critic who believes the movement will slowly reform and continue lumbering along uninfluenced, bumbling along for decades, drawing criticism, since it is locked in an unchanging pattern due to the tenacious nature of the rule system that the Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard wrote which guides the movement today.

A very special thanks to “dr3k” for helping me line these guests up and for being a tremendous help!

As per an earlier article about the Howard Stern on-air resignation from Artie Lange, now with audio, thanks to a commenter.

As we posted yesterday, a decade has passed since the death of one of the most beloved and revered figures in history, Princess Diana.

In his inimitable way, when I pressed Mr. Morton for a comment on the official verdict of Princess Diana, he was blunt and without ambiguity:

“The most expensive statement of the blindingly obvious in British history. It has taken 10 years to come to the same conclusion as most right thinking people came to in 10 minutes.”

Morton, who in the year’s since his controversial book on the Princess was first published (1992), has become an authority on the Royals. Based on the time I spent with the author, I suspect Morton felt very sympathetic towards Diana’s pain and heartache. Not only did she suffer within a loveless marriage by a husband who did very little to hide his affair with a much older (and outwardly less “attractive”) Camilla Parker Bowles (also married), but she was forced to endure much of this in silence out of a sense of duty to her position within the Royal family.

Here’s is what Diana said in a BBC interview regarding Morton’s biography on her:

QUESTION: The Queen described 1992 as her `annus horribilis’, and it was in that year that Andrew Morton’s book about you was published. Did you ever meet Andrew Morton or personally help him with the book?
DIANA: I never met him, no.

QUESTION: Did you ever personally assist him with the writing of his book?
DIANA: A lot of people saw the distress that my life was in, and they felt it was a supportive thing to help in the way that they did.

QUESTION: Did you allow your friends, your close friends, to speak to Andrew Morton?
DIANA: Yes, I did. Yes, I did.

QUESTION: Why?
DIANA: I was at the end of my tether. I was desperate. I think I was so fed up with being seen as someone who was a basket-case, because I am a very strong person and I know that causes complications in the system that I live in.

QUESTION: How would a book change that?
DIANA: I don’t know. Maybe people have a better understanding, maybe there’s a lot of women out there who suffer on the same level but in a different environment, who are unable to stand up for themselves because their self-esteem is cut into two. I don’t know.

QUESTION: What effect do you think the book had on your husband and the Royal Family?
DIANA: I think they were shocked and horrified and very disappointed.

QUESTION: Can you understand why?
DIANA: I think Mr Dimbleby’s book was a shock to a lot of people and disappointment as well.

QUESTION: What effect did Andrew Morton’s book have on your relationship with the Prince of Wales?
DIANA: Well, what had been hidden - or rather what we thought had been hidden - then became out in the open and was spoken about on a daily basis, and the pressure was for us to sort ourselves out in some way. Were we going to stay together or were we going to separate? And the word separation and divorce kept coming up in the media on a daily basis.

QUESTION: What happened after the book was published?
DIANA: Well, we struggled along. We did our engagements together. And in our private life it was obviously turbulent.

QUESTION: Did things come to a head?
DIANA: Yes, slowly, yes. My husband and I, we discussed it very calmly.We could see what the public were requiring. They wanted clarity of a situation that was obviously becoming intolerable.

QUESTION: So what happened?
DIANA: So we got the lawyers together, we discussed separation - obviously there were a lot of people to discuss it with: the Prime Minister, Her Majesty - and then it moved itself, so to speak.

QUESTION: By the December of that year, as you say, you’d agreed to a legal separation. What were your feelings at the time?
DIANA: Deep, deep, profound sadness. Because we had struggled to keep it going, but obviously we’d both run out of steam. And in a way I suppose it could have been a relief for us both that we’d finally made our minds up. But my husband asked for the separation and I supported it.

QUESTION: It was not your idea?
DIANA: No. Not at all. I come from a divorced background, and I didn’t want to go into that one again.

At the time of this interview, these revelations were shocking to the British public, and the world at large who had become fascinated with this very public betrayal. The world watched through the British tabloid lens Charles and Diana’s whirlwind courtship, the lavish wedding, the development of Diana’s own grace and poise under intense public scrutiny (especially the ruthless British press), and to see this crisp and well-controlled veneer crumble, was both difficult to watch and hard to turn away.

Morton for his part, never shied away from the controversy and refused to back down from the claims in his book, which for the most part, turned out to be painfully true and uncannily insightful. In many ways, Diana was set free by Morton’s book, and this must be a source of comfort for the man who many have demonized for what they consider inappropriate prying into famous people’s lives.

Oddly enough, for all the complaints in the press about revealing the famous’ personal lives, Morton’s books continue to be best-sellers, so clearly, the consumptive masses are in his favor. Whether it be a beguiling Princess, or Hollywood’s top-gun, the private lives of the famous will always be a source of interest.

This is final and 5th segment of Glosslip’s interview with famed biographer Andrew Morton. In this clip, Morton addresses the Anonymous phenomena and talks about how Scientology’s claims to help people need to be scrutinized using both empirical and scientific methods.

Morton also suggests that any religion needs to be able to survive criticism if they are to continue, and the Church of Scientology, like Islamic fundamentalism is threatening our worldview with a fascistic and dangerous mindset and needs a closer look by society.

I will be writing a review of the book which was a wonderful resource for learning more about Tom Cruise and most certainly, Scientology. It’s also a very well-written book by a serious, but grounded man. I can’t thank Andrew enough for making time for me, he couldn’t have been more gracious.

 

I’ve had a great day, and I hope you all have as well.

“He is not here, He has risen!”  (Luke 24:6 NIV)

~k

Anonymous may not be a violent gang of cyber-hackers, but they certainly are a lulzy outfit.

Is it just me, or are those Guy Fawkes masks a real turn on? There’s something oddly titillating. Ok, time to stop.

Tonight’s guest for Glosslip Radio will be a member of the internet-based group Anonymous and webmaster of www.YouFoundTheCard.com. We will discuss why the site was create, the site’s objective and on-going projects and events Anonymous has scheduled for their upcoming global Scientology protest in March, and a new project they announced for April, Project Reconnection.

Glosslip Radio is part of the BC Radio network and can be accessed for live streaming audio, podcast or download at www.blogtalkradio.com/glosslip.

Tonight’s show will begin at 10:00pm EST and we hope you will join us and participate in the chatroom, or call in with questions for our guest. If you are a member of Anonymous and have news to share, please feel free to call in.

CALL IN NUMBER: 646-478-0139

Click here to listen to the show live at 10:00pm EST.

Anyone have any crackers to go with these monumental pile of velvetta?

This is from a group of “loosely-connected” ex-Scientologists who are reaching out to those who may be afraid, alienated, cut-off and unsure how to leave the Church. I couldn’t help but cry thinking about the vulnerable people who have been displaced from their lives, cut off from their families and left ill-equipped to deal with a new and evolved world.

We are fighting for you, there is freedom beyond the COS, there are people who want to help you and care about you. It’s never too late, we are here. We are waiting. You have a voice.