The FBI's Scientology investigation

For 5 years I lived in a house in Los Angeles, where one of the previous residents had been a member of Sea Org - almost 10 years before we moved in. We would receive a piece of mail addressed to him from Scientology almost every single day we lived there. Posters, letters, DVDs you name it. We'd collect the mail and pile it on the floor as entertainment for friends. They probably sent close to $200 worth of mailers to that house every year. People from Scientology would come to the house asking for this guy, and we'd tell them he hadn't lived there in years. They'd return, leave handwritten notes on the door. In the storage area under the house were boxes of his family's clothes and belongings, I wouldn't be surprised if they had just abandoned their things and fled. Scientology is no joke.

I was born and raised here in Pinellas County with Scientology World headquarters. I still live here in Tampa, and I've known a variety of Scientologists, and done business with the Church.<p>They've been this way since before I was born; this is nothing new. I have yet to see a news article accurately report on them, their beliefs, their activities, or their crimes, which are legion.<p>The St. Pete. Times used to war with them regularly for years; not once did I read an article that didn't have numerous sloppy mistakes that basic research would have caught.<p>They really are a religion: they think they're saving souls and the World, and anything they do is worth it; the ends justify the means. Since the World hangs in the Balance, and they're the warriors on the front lines, they're above the law.<p>What's worse is a lot of their minor techniques are quite effective, especially on drug addiction and the like, which convinces many people that they're the One True Path.

I find it interesting that "freedom of religion" helped them out of a case. Why should doing something that'd otherwise be illegal suddenly change because you claim it's "religious"?<p>Freedom of religion seems like a relic of an older time, or lack of clear thinking. If you have freedom to think, assemble, speak, why does religion need special casing? How is it different than having "freedom for hobby clubs"?

I enjoy the content of this link, but I don't know what this has to do with hacker news. This is a great link for reddit, or other like site. Hacker News has been losing its focus on technology articles.

I wonder if some of their techniques could be used for a hacker boot camp. Voluntarily subject yourself to psychological abuse in order to get rid of distractions and achieve "the zone" or high productive states. Great for those experiencing longer than usual spells of burn-out. Mind hacking you back into shape.