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Did John Travolta’s weird faith seal his son Jett’s fate ? By RICHARD PRICE
As 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.
Family tragedy: John Travolta with his daughter Ella, son Jett and Wife Kelly Preston After 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. A 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. 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. John 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.
‘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.
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. |
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 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) |
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By Sharon Churcher and Caroline Graham
John Travolta and his wife Kelly stood vigil for four hours over the body of their 16-year-old son Jett on the tiny island of Grand Bahama. The poignant scene was described by neighbour and family friend Obie Wilchcombe, who said: ‘They didn’t want to leave.’ The teenager’s premature death from an epileptic fit last weekend was as unexpected as it was tragic. Although Jett had suffered serious health problems since early childhood, the Hollywood actor believed his son would be as well cared for on a New Year’s vacation in the Bahamas as he always had been. Jett’s suite at the family’s seafront holiday home was specially designed for him, and two carers were due to tend to his needs 24 hours a day. But although the cause of the teenager’s death is not in dispute, the police files on the case remain open amid a welter of conflicting information about the nature of Jett’s illness, its treatment and the timing and circumstances surrounding his death. Central to the picture is the role of the boy’s 29-year-old male ‘nanny’ Jeff Kathrein, a man who caused raised eyebrows a few years ago when he was seen being kissed on the lips and hugged by Travolta on the steps of a private plane. Although Kathrein appears to have been given a key role in Jett’s wellbeing, he seems only to have been referred to as nanny from last weekend. By profession he is a wedding photographer, and was one of the last people to see Jett alive. Intriguingly, The Mail on Sunday has learned that accounts from police and family friends differ from the ‘official’ version put forward by those who claim to speak for Travolta, 54, and his wife, the 46-year-old actress Kelly Preston. Jett’s death certificate issued by the Bahamas authorities lists the cause of death as ‘seizure disorder’ - another name for epilepsy. But some questions about the boy’s last moments remain unanswered, such as exactly when he suffered the fit, how long he lay sprawled on a bathroom floor, what injuries he suffered and who first went to his assistance. There is also an issue over whether Jett suffered, as many suspect, from severe autism and what role his parents’ devout adherence to Scientology may have played in his treatment. What is clear is that the Travolta family spent Christmas at their £3.5million mansion on Isleboro, an island off the coast of Maine, New England. Then on Tuesday, December 30, Travolta, piloting his Boeing 707 airliner, flew his family to Grand Bahama in the Caribbean to celebrate the New Year. Travolta, Kelly, Jett and his eight-year-old sister Ella Bleu arrived on Grand Bahama that evening and drove to the family’s spacious, lemon-washed villa, which has stunning views over a marina. They were due to be joined a few days later - at Travolta’s expense - by 49 staff, friends and their children. As was customary, Jett occupied a downstairs suite in the villa. Travolta and Kelly shared the master bedroom upstairs next to Ella Bleu’s bedroom. Jett’s two nannies, Kathrein and a man identified only as Eli, shared a ground-floor suite that connected to Jett’s room. Late that first evening, Travolta took Jett for a ride around the villa’s grounds in a golf cart. The following day - Wednesday, New Year’s Eve - the Travoltas and some of the staff went to the beach and had a quiet meal with friends who live on the island.
Kathrein, far left, with Jett, Ella Bleu and Kelly On New Year’s Day, the group had a lazy morning before an afternoon boat ride. When they returned, Travolta said good night to his son at about 6pm and Jett retired to his bedroom. Next day he was found dead. The police report states that Kathrein informed them he had been watching television in the suite next to Jett’s and that the nannies (they don’t make it clear whether it was Eli or Kathrein) last saw the boy at about 11.30pm. According to the police, Jett may have been left unattended for more than ten hours. A police spokesman said: ‘We stand by our initial report but we cannot make any further comment about the discrepancies between our report and other versions of the event that have been put out there because the investigation is on-going.’ Another version of events was released over the following 48 hours by Travolta’s lawyers Michael Ossi and Michael McDermott. They said Jett - who regularly slept for up to 16 hours a day - was closely and constantly monitored by Kathrein, who is married and a devout Scientologist, and Eli. The lawyers said the boy’s bedroom was equipped with a baby monitor and a chime that sounded every time he went to the adjoining bathroom. Furthermore, the lawyers - who were both on the island as guests of the Travoltas - insist Jett was alive and well until ‘very shortly’ before Kathrein discovered him crumpled on the floor of his bathroom at about 10am on Friday, January 2. Ossi told reporters that Kathrein performed cardiac massage in an attempt to resuscitate Jett and acknowledged that Jett had a history of seizures. McDermott added: ‘Jett was not left alone. He had a nanny present at all times. Short of holding [Jett’s] hand 24/7, they had everything in place.’ The two lawyers said Travolta had heard Kathrein’s screams on discovering the prone Jett, rushed to his suite and took over the resuscitation attempts until paramedics arrived. ‘Jett may have died in his dad’s arms,’ the lawyers said in a joint statement. ‘We’d like to believe John had a chance to say goodbye.’ It is unclear where Kelly was while the drama unfolded. In the lawyer’s version of events, she is not mentioned until Jett reaches hospital. The discrepancies in the accounts raise questions about what possible motive the family would have for obscuring any details of Jett’s death. Of course, the Travoltas have always fiercely guarded their privacy, both because of their devotion to Scientology and because of the long-term health problems of Jett, who they have long maintained was damaged by Kawasaki Syndrome, a rare circulatory problem that is seldom fatal and affects only infants. They have repeatedly rejected the observations from a variety of experts who believe Jett suffered from autism. His clumsiness, inability to speak and tendency to walk on tip-toe are said to be classic symptoms of autism - which is also often associated with epileptic seizures. The day after Jett died, another lawyer travelling with the Travoltas admitted that Jett suffered seizures as regularly as every four days. But he insisted that the Travoltas had not ignored the problem and Jett had been treated in the past with an anti-seizure medication, Depakote. He said medication had been stopped several years ago because it had ‘ceased to work’ and Kelly feared it might be damaging Jett’s liver. An Isleboro neighbour of John Travolta last night said the actor was a devoted father: ‘Jett was his life. John was devoted to him. He would spend hours with him watching television. John would go for walks around the estate with Jett, always with his arm around Jett’s shoulder. 'Sometimes he would take the boy down to their private stretch of beach. But he would never take him out in public. ‘They had a 24-hour nanny for him. He was never left alone. He was never left unsupervised. He needed full-time care.’ The tragic events on Grand Bahama turn the spotlight on Kathrein and his role in the Travolta family’s life. When the photograph of him kissing Travolta on the lips was published around the world in 2006, Travolta’s highly paid PR men instantly retorted that the star’s wife was on the plane, that Kathrein was married and that Travolta always kissed friends goodbye in that way. It was a particularly testy response from an actor who has long been dogged by rumours of homosexuality. Several years ago a former gay porn star, Paul Barresi, claimed he had enjoyed a lengthy affair with the actor, only to later recant the accusation. Travolta has always described rumours that he is anything other than a happily married heterosexual male as ‘stupid and ludicrous’. A friend of the actor explained Travolta’s friendship with Kathrein, saying: ‘Jeff has known John for years. I think they met through Scientology. Jeff always travels with John and then when Jeff met his wife Ana, she started travelling with John and Kelly too. But I never heard Jeff referred to as a nanny until Jett’s death.’ Kathrein's website reveals that he and Ana, who is pregnant with their first child, run a wedding photography business in Clearwater, Florida, the home of the American headquarters of Scientology. It appears he enjoyed the absolute trust and confidence of the Hollywood star. And he was the man who, according to the lawyers, would have been listening - if he had been on a formal shift - to the baby monitors. According to one long-term friend of Travolta, it is out of the question that Jett could have lain unnoticed overnight on the bathroom floor. He said: ‘Jett was 6ft 2in and weighed nearly 18 stone. Even if everybody was asleep, surely someone would have heard him fall.’ If there are questions about the hours before Jett was found, there is no doubt that every effort was made to save him. One of the most dramatic accounts comes from paramedic Marcus Garvey, who was in charge of the three-person emergency medical team dispatched from the island’s capital Freeport, 26 miles and 45 minutes away by a twisting island road from the Travolta villa. Garvey said that when he arrived at the villa, a local doctor - who has not been identified - was performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) while Travolta and his wife looked on helplessly. He said Jett had been moved from the bathroom into the villa’s hallway and had a large swelling on his forehead. Garvey said: ‘We had been told he had fallen, hit his head and had a fit and was unconscious. The doctor told me he thought he’d had something like an epileptic fit and that he had a history of seizures. ‘John and Kelly were standing over him like they were in a daze. John was shaking. Kelly was crying and trying to comfort him. I took over from the doctor.’ Jett was worked on for 25 minutes at the scene. Later, as paramedics loaded him into an ambulance, they asked the Travoltas to follow. Garvey said: ‘John cried, “No! No! I’m coming with my son.’’ 'John was holding his hand in the ambulance saying, “Come on Jett, come around.’’ 'Kelly was tenderly rubbing Jett’s hand and saying, “Come on baby, come on Jett.”’ At the hospital, Jett was put on life support while his parents waited in an anteroom. When all attempts to revive him failed, the body was moved to the hospital morgue where Kelly and John said their goodbyes. The final mystery surrounds the injuries Jett suffered. Paramedics and police say there was a large bruise on his forehead. Glen Campbell, an assistant director at the funeral home that dealt with Jett’s cremation, denied there were any signs of head trauma and insisted Jett’s body was ‘in perfect condition’. The Travoltas were today due to fly back to Maine, where they plan to spend time with Scientology friends, including former Cheers actress Kirsty Alley. One Maine neighbour said last night: ‘The last time they were here at Christmas, I saw John walking in the grounds with his arm around Jett’s shoulder. Regardless of all the questions surrounding Jett’s death, the one thing that can’t be questioned was that John loved that boy with all his heart.’ Last night a spokesperson for the Travolta family said: ‘This is not something we are going to bother the Travoltas with right now as they’re mourning the loss of their son.’ |
In the wake of Jett Travolta’s death from a seizure, it is timely to present this audio recording of L. Ron Hubbard speaking about epilepsy: And then people who have epilepsy, which is a type of disease which gives them seizures, are almost always found on some minor drug that prevents them from getting these—they call them petit mal seizures. Thats epilepsy. I dont care how they call it. Sometimes they really seize and sometimes its just slight. One of those, if an epileptic ever took you by the hand and so forth, he’s liable to break every bone in your hand, if he suddenly had a seizure. 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 [pre-clear] and you tell the PC that he’ll 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. And you get into a collision between medical treatment and so on. Now I’ve been using a lot of medical words here or chemical words really. Just don’t pay any attention to them because they’re mostly gobbledygook, and there’s an awful lot of gobbledygook words. Gobbledygook just means nonsense chatter, you see. There’s an awful lot of them. Tory Christman,
a former Scientologist who is now one of the most
vocal critics Inevitably,
she started having seizures which increased in number and in
magnitude. She states in an affadavit written in 2001: http://www.xenu.net/archive/personal_story/tory/affidavit.html
This went on for I think 3 months. I was losing my memory due to all of the seizures. I would wake up in the morning and try to dash into the refrigerator. Daily I would have a petit mal (small seizure), and come to with all of the vitamins spread out all over the kitchen floor. The lady I was renting a room from had two children. Constantly they would come in and find me on the floor, and yell “Mommy, Tory dropped her vitamins again”. This woman was one of the kindest people to me, and I will never forget her. Her name is Mary Jessup, and she was married previously to Nate Jessup. All during this time the Scientologists were very evaluative to me, and many treated me like a leper, but not Mary. She was always very compassionate. She had left Scientology some time earlier. Finally one morning in the shower I knocked my front teeth out during a Grand Mal seizure. All during this time my mother was begging me to go back on all of my medication. Being new in Scientology, I assured her Dianetics and Scientology would handle this. Finally, after so many seizures and so much trauma, I realized no matter what these people thought, I wasn’t going to live if I kept doing this. At that point I decided to go back on my medication in full, no matter what. She eventually was allowed to take her anti-seizure medicine again, after stubborn persistence, and at the cost of a career in the Sea Org. It was
earlier
reported Did the “Church” of Scientology persuade the John Travolta and Kelly Preston to give up on conventional medicine and instead treat their son with Scientology’s “alternative” therapy ? |
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Kyle Brennan, son of Victoria Breton, was a young man from Charlottesville, Virginia. Kyle suffered from mental illness that was partially controlled by medication. He was 20 years old and had been attending college. In 2007 he was having some mental problems and went to visit his father, long-time Scientologist Tom Brennan, in Tampa. Tom took away his son's medication, and left him home alone with a handgun and ammunition. Kyle Brennan shot himself on February 17, 2007. Kyle Brennan was born in Virginia in 1986 and was baptized a Catholic. He was buried a Catholic by his mother, Victoria, in 2007. Kyle died whilst visiting his Scientologist father (Tom Brennan), in Clearwater, in 2007. Kyle's father, being a Scientologist, and being apposed Psychological medicine, pilfered Kyle's medication and hid it overnight in his truck. When Tom Brennan returned home that evening, Kyle was unconscious due to a deficiency of his medicine. Finding his son unconscious, Tom Brennan called the Church of Scientology and, after a long discussion, they decided to send Jerry Gentile to Tom's Apartment. Jerry Gentile arrived 45 minutes later. Jerry Gentile is married to Denise Miscavige (the sister of DAVID MISCAVIGE, the Head of the Church of Scientology). David Miscavige took the decision to call 911 and request an ambulance for Kyle. This telephone call was made roughly 90 minutes after Kyle Brennan was found unconscious. Kyle Brennan, like Lisa McPherson before him, was delayed medical treatment and was declared Dead on Arrival at hospital. The Clearwater Police found Kyle's medication hidden in Tom Brennan's truck the next day. Kyle's father was more concerned with protecting the interests of the Church of Scientology that he was of saving his son's life. He was also guilty of negligent homicide by depriving his son of his medication. I believe he is about to be charged with this felony in the next few weeks. If you want to protest about Kyle's murder by Tom Brennan, Jerry Gentile, David Miscavige and the Church of Scientology. If you are outraged by the circumstances of Kyle's death, please express your disgust to the following authorities:
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Chicago dentist to settle forced Scientology, harassment caseThe Chicago office of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission had filed a civil lawsuit against James L. Orrington in September 2007, asserting he had discriminated against 18 employees by subjecting them to sexual propositions, comments and improper touching. The suit also alleged that Orrington violated federal law by requiring workers "to engage in Scientology religious practices and learn about Scientology as conditions of their employment." The suit, filed in Chicago federal court, also alleged that Orrington violated civil-rights law by firing or taking other retaliatory actions against some employees who had complained about his behavior. A consent decree filed with the U.S. District court Tuesday calls for Orrington to pay $462,500 to the workers involved and enjoins him from further sexual or religious workplace discrimination. A consent decree resolves a lawsuit, but doesn't include an admission of guilt by the defendant. "The misconduct here was shameful combining sex, forced Scientology and putting people's jobs on the line and it was especially shameful because the person doing it was a medical professional who occupied a position of trust in his community," said EEOC regional attorney John Hendrickson. Un dentiste de Chicago a accepté de payer $462,500 pour mettre fin à des allégations faites devant une juridiction fédérale portant sur la violation des lois des Etats-Unis sur la discrimination en harassant sexuellement des travailleurs et en forçant des employés à se soumettre à un endoctrinement sur les principes de la scientologie s'ils voulaient conserver leur emploi. Le bureau de Chicago de l'Equal Employment Opportunity Commission a déposé une poursuite civile contre James L. Orrington en Septembre 2007, affirmant qu'il avait fait preuve de discrimination contre les 18 employés en les soumettant à des propositions de rapports sexuels et des attouchements. La poursuite a également allégué que Orrington a violé le droit fédéral en exigeant des travailleurs "de prendre des cours de scientologie en tant que conditions de leur emploi." La poursuite, déposée en cour fédérale de Chicago,
précisé également qu'Orrington a violé les droits civils en prenant
des mesures de représailles contre certains employés qui s'étaient plaints
de son comportement. Un décret de consentement auprès de la "US District Court" demande à Orrington de payer $ 462,500 pour les travailleurs concernés au motif d'abus sexuel et religieux, ainsi que discrimination au travail. Ce décret de consentement a permis de classer ce procès mais il ne comprend pas d'aveu de culpabilité de la part de l'accusé. «Cette mauvaise conduite est honteuse - en combinant sexe, imposition de la Scientologie et en mettant en danger le travail de ces personnes - et c'est particulièrement honteux parce que cette personne a été un professionnel de la santé ayant occupé un poste de confiance au sein de sa communauté», a déclaré John Hendrickson procureur de l'EEOC (Chicago Equal Employment Opportunity Commission). |
Old-Timers give a history lesson. Mark Bunker, Jeff Jacobsen, Modemac, Ron Newman, Paulette Cooper, and Jim Lippard cover the history of criticism of Scientology. (blogtalkradio - January 5, 2009) Lippard's great summary of information from the show (lippard.blogpost.com - January 4-5, 2009)
Jeff Jacobsen and
Mark Bunker are hosting a 90-minute Internet radio show on the battle between
Scientology and the Internet that took place before Anonymous. A number of old-timers
from alt.religion.scientology will likely be calling in.
First guest: Modemac, skeptic, SubGenius, and author of an Introduction to Scientology website  , on the early history of
alt.religion.scientology.Second guest: Paulette Cooper, author of The Scandal of Scientology , an early major
book-length criticism of Scientology, who was the victim of dirty tricks
including framing her for a bomb threat and filing 19 lawsuits against
her.Third guest: Ron Newman, author of the Church of Scientology vs. the Net web pages and alt.religion.scientology
regular.Fourth guest: Yours truly. UPDATE (January 5, 2009): A few clarifications and additional links: The "Miss Bloodybutt" story Modemac referred to is described in the article Jeff and I wrote in Skeptic magazine , which includes dates.
The -AB- posting didn't predate the event and included information from the
police report. I interviewed Tom Klemesrud and Linda Woolard as part of my
research for that story.I was taken out to lunch by Scientology's Mesa Org OSA Director, Ginny Leeson, who asked what they could do to stop the criticism and pickets. My reply was that if they stopped suing people and trying to stop criticism, the pickets would probably stop. Ginny Leeson was soon replaced by a new OSA Director, Leslie Duhrman, who was a lot more hostile and aggressive--she went after picketer Bruce Pettycrew with legal action. I have
received legal threats from Scientology and a DMCA notice, but nothing ever came
of them; I periodically
see Church of Scientology IP addresses visiting my web sites My
Scientology private
investigators page I
wasn't the one who first called for coordinated international pickets, that was
Jeff Jacobsen. I did issue (on behalf of the "Ad Hoc Committee Against Internet
Censorship") the
first coordinated press release about why the picketing was occurring There was a
Salon.com article in 1999 about Susan Mullaney ("xenubat")'s posted audio files
of L. Ron Hubbard saying embarrassing things I've previously posted a "Scientology
sampler" This blog has a "Scientology"
label |
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