Scientology convicted of fraud in France

[fab]

A Paris court has convicted the Church of Scientology's French branch of fraud and fined it 400,000 Euros -- about $600,000 -- but stopped short of the ban on the group that prosecutors had sought, the Associated Press is reporting.

The court on Tuesday convicted four of six leaders of the group of organized fraud for pressuring members into paying large sums of money for questionable financial gain, the AP reports. It handed them suspended sentences of between 10 months and two years. The other two were given fines of 1,000 Euros and 2,000 Euros.

The court did not order the group to shut down, ruling that it would be likely to continue its activities anyway, "outside any legal framework," according to the AP. Prosecutors had requested that the group be dissolved in France and be fined 2 million Euros.

http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news..._of_fraud.html

[Tia Wood]

Yes! It's about time.

[fab]

Yes! It's about time.

I've had some bad personal experiences with them. Are you personally familiar with similar issues?

[Tia Wood]

I've had some bad personal experiences with them. Are you personally familiar with similar issues?

Not with Scientology but I grew up in a similar religion.

[Mike Cruz]

Isn't that common practice for any religion?

[Seraphim]

Ever since Tom Cruise went ape-shit on Oprah, Scientology has been in the crossfire. Hahahaha! What a fuked up world we live in.

If you're interested in an off the beaten path religion, research Catharism. I don't subscribe to it, but it makes for interesting reading. They were put down by fire by the Catholic Church.

[Gerry]

Ever since Tom Cruise went ape-shit on Oprah, Scientology has been in the crossfire. Hahahaha! What a fuked up world we live in.

What is the L. Ron Hubbard thing?

Better than the Oprah thing was his rants of the Today Show with Matt Lauer when he went off on Brooke Shields.

That was primarily the start of his downward spiral. This put the studio releasing Mission Impossible:2 on shaky ground.

[Seraphim]

What is the L. Ron Hubbard thing?

Better than the Oprah thing was his rants of the Today Show with Matt Lauer when he went off on Brooke Shields.

That was primarily the start of his downward spiral. This put the studio releasing Mission Impossible:2 on shaky ground.

If I was worth hundreds of millions of dollars, could get any girl I wanted on the face of the earth, and had a several decades long artistic legacy hanging in the breeze, I would have treated the situation differently.

I think Darwin came a knocking on Cruise's door. What a dumbass!

[Devil Dog]

Isn't that common practice for any religion?

[fab]

Isn't that common practice for any religion?

Do you really believe Scientology is a religion.

[tetrapak]

Do you really believe Scientology is a religion.

Huh? Why, just because other religions created their little stories about miracles and whatnot earlier? If you mean about the financial part, I can assure you that the Vatican is billion times ahead..

[denny007]

I don't understand how can someone fall for it. These people are brainwashed, for me they are same group as Herbalife, Amway, Charlie Manson or any other cult. Their speach make no sense and everyone with little common sense must just think "HUH ? WTF..." and ignore them...

[Mike Cruz]

I don't understand how can someone fall for it. These people are brainwashed, for me they are same group as Herbalife, Amway, Charlie Manson or any other cult. Their speach make no sense and everyone with little common sense must just think "HUH ? WTF..." and ignore them...

huh wtf is exactly what I said when someone tried to preach to me their beliefs in scientology... but I give that reaction to all religions...

[fab]

I don't understand how can someone fall for it. These people are brainwashed, for me they are same group as Herbalife, Amway, Charlie Manson or any other cult. Their speach make no sense and everyone with little common sense must just think "HUH ? WTF..." and ignore them...

Denny, they work much cleverer then you think. They send out creative spam offering classes to promote your business, marriage and personal life etc. Often they catch people who are down, and try to persuade them how they can actually help them, with the big hit at the end.

Speaking of Herbal Life, I know plenty of people who got involved with them,pyramid schemes etc. Some friends of ours suggested coming to a business proposal meeting, but refused to disclose any details beforehand. Since they were in the clothing business, I assumed they were going to propose something like Tupperware Parties for clothing, but it was something like Herbal Life. I grabbed my wife out in the middle, and we ditched, right in front of everyone. Our friends were pretty ticked, and we were as well!

[tetrapak]

I don't understand how can someone fall for it. These people are brainwashed, for me they are same group as Herbalife, Amway, Charlie Manson or any other cult. Their speach make no sense and everyone with little common sense must just think "HUH ? WTF..." and ignore them...

People fell for all other religions, why not this one?

[Gerry]

For the past two days, I have been seeing Scientology dot org commercials about every 2 - 4 hours on CNN television.

Bizarre. Have never seen any at all and all of a sudden...BAM!

[fab]

For the past two days, I have been seeing Scientology dot org commercials about every 2 - 4 hours on CNN television.

Bizarre. Have never seen any at all and all of a sudden...BAM!

Good morning sunshine, welcome to the world of Scientology. I use to get 100's of well done Spam/month.

[Banned: dn-101]

History of the World, Part I


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History..._World,_Part_I

And especially The Inquisition
The Spanish Inquisition

The Spanish Inquisition segment is performed in the style of a grandiose Busby Berkeley production. The segment is one long song-and-dance number featuring Brooks as the infamous Torquemada. The segment opens with a herald introducing Torquemada and making a play on his name, noting that despite the pleas for mercy from the condemned, that you "can't Torquemada anything" (talk him outta anything). Several instances of "comical" torture are shown including a spinning iron maiden and "water torture" re-imagined as an Esther Williams-style aquatic ballet. Jackie Mason has a cameo in this scene as a Jewish torture victim.