Tag Archives: scientology

Lib Dem councillor cleared of wrongdoing over Scientology tweet

Liberal Democrat Councillor John Dixon, from Cardiff, has been cleared of any wrondoing by the council’s Standards and Ethics Committee after calling Scientology “stupid” in a post on Twitter in 2009.

From Wales Online:

Members disagreed with the report of the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales, Peter Tyndall, who said there was likely to have been a breach of the code because the Adamsdown ward member signed off his comments on the website as CllrJohnDixon when he criticised the church.

They concluded he was acting in a private capacity.

Coun Dixon, also executive member for health and social services, said: “I’m hugely relieved.

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Daily View 2×2: 4 March 2010

Good morning and welcome to Thursday’s Daily View.

There’s a huge chunk of exciting things that happened today in history, so it’s an auspicious day to welcome a baby Cullen. Our technical editor Ryan has been tweeting progress, and as I write this there’s a lot of pushing going on. Best wishes from all at LDV to the Cullen family – I’m sure LDV Towers will soon get used to night feeds. I’m dusting off my copy of Gina Ford as I type.

Male swans from Matthew Bourne's Swan LakeSo, today in history: the US Congress met for the first time in 1789. In 1790, France was divvied into départements. In 1797, John Adams succeeded George Washington, the first ever peaceful transfer of power between elected leaders in modern times. Chicago was founded in 1837; Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake premiered in Moscow in 1877 and in 1882, East London saw Britain’s first electric trams. The first Daimler car was unveiled and in 1933, the first woman joined the US Cabinet.

March 4th birthdays include Vivaldi, in 1678, Sir Patrick Moore, and Nottingham novellist Alan Sillitoe (I was at the meeting of Nottingham City Council that made him an honorary freeman of the city, incidentally)

2 Big Stories

Evil Gays update

Civil partnerships – gay marriages – could soon be registered in places of worship – something currently expressly banned by statute, which is particularly unfair on those faiths which don’t have a problem with gay relationships, including Quakers and Reform Judaism. The Times has one version of the information; the Telegraph on the other hand manages to paint a far more bleak version of the havoc that could be wrought by litigious homos.

Meanwhile, David Cameron has averred that his party’s tax breaks, maternity and paternity rights planned for married couples will also be available to their civilly partnershipped brethren. Not quite sure how this tallies with last month’s pronouncement that would be no new gay rights under the Tories.

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Scientology convicted of fraud in France

Back in May I blogged about the then forthcoming trial for fraud the Church of Scientology was facing in France. A quick update seems in order now that the case has taken place:

Two flagship branches of the Church of Scientology in France have been sentenced to pay fines of over €600,000 (£550,000) after being convicted of “fraud in an organised gang” today by a court in Paris.

The judgment against the Scientology Celebrity Centre and a related bookshop in Paris is one of the most important to involve the controversial organisation in recent years.

The judges stopped short of the total

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Wikipedia bans Church of Scientology

That’s the headline from The Register:

In an unprecedented effort to crack down on self-serving edits, the Wikipedia supreme court has banned contributions from all IP addresses owned or operated by the Church of Scientology and its associates.

Closing out the longest-running court case in Wikiland history, the site’s Arbitration Committee voted 10 to 0 (with one abstention) in favor of the move, which takes effect immediately…

Some have argued that those editing from Scientology IPs may be doing so without instruction from the Church hierarchy. But a former member of Scientology’s Office of Special Affairs – a department officially responsible

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Scientology goes on trial in France

From France 24:

A high profile trial against the Church of Scientology opens in Paris Monday amid questions about whether the latest legal battle could threaten Scientology’s operations in France.

This time, the organisation faces a fine of up to 5 million euros and even the prospect of dissolution.

The latest case centres on a complaint made by a 43-year-old Parisian woman, who claims the organisation persuaded her to spend at least 20,000 euros for various fraudulent cases including medication for “self-purification”, books and an “electrometer”, a device used to measure galvanic skin response in patients…

The Church of Scientology says money can

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