Ron Newman

From: rnewman@thecia.net (Ron Newman)
Subject: Re: COS ATTACKS HERALD in Cambridge, MA
Date: Mon, 06 Apr 1998

In article 6fu0r9$hlt$1@isn.dac.neu.edu, hosborne@lynx02.dac.neu.edu
(Hilary B Osborne) wrote:

> Got it today. Took all the copies intended for my building, one per
> apartment. Looked like I was the first (and last :)) to get to them.
> Anyone want a copy, let me know.

At least 47 copies were left in the front lobby of my 50-unit apartment building this morning, stacked neatly in two piles.

The number of copies in each of the two piles suggests that whoever left them carefully counted the number of mailboxes on each side of the entrance lobby. There are 28 mailboxes on the left and 22 on the right. The pile on the left side had 27 copies and the one on the right had 21. By the time I saw them, it's possible that one or two other tenants picked up copies.

I don't yet know if any other buildings in my neighborhood got hit. However, they also hit the White Hen Pantry at Mass. Ave. and Day Street in North Cambridge a few days ago. This is the closest retail store to my apartment.

Subject: COS ATTACKS HERALD in Cambridge, MA
From: cambridgema@hotmail.com
Date: Thu, 26 Mar 1998

Boston Herald attacked this morning, March 26 1998, in a 22 page flyer distributed during the night onto the doorsteps of Cambridge MA.

[snip] When I left my home in Cambridge this morning what do I find under my feet? A twenty-two page flyer/magazine strongly attacking the Boston Herald. I looked around, sure enough, this polished two-color flyer was on every doorstep.

[snip]

******* Quotes and Commentary********

The cover:
The Boston Herald:
MERCHANTS of Sensationalism
How a newspaper sold it's journalistic soul

Some Excerpts:
- From the first section of the flyer "The Church of Scientology REPLIES".

" And no wonder. The Herald never mentioned its featured "sources" are already subject to court imposed injunctions for violating the Church's copyrights. In other words, their statements do not represent mere "criticism" but promote those who have been adjudicated to have violated the law. The Herald provided the grinding wheel to those with an axe to grind"

" A newspaper which takes one to task for helping people to better their lives has aborted its responsibility to its community. The motives that led the Herald to embark on a series of racist and bigoted articles are obscure. However, there is no doubt that reporter Joseph Mallia and his editorial bosses were intent on a hatchet job from the beginning."

" There are more than 100 court rulings around the world which have examined the Church's practices and activities and upheld Scientology's religious bona fides. Then there is the U.S. government, which recognized the Church of Scientology as entirely religious in nature and granted it full tax exemption in 1993 after conducting a two-year examination of every aspect of the Church's finances, policies and practices. It was the most exhaustive and thorough examination the agency has ever conducted of an applicant for exemption and the Church past it with flying colors."

". . . And, just to round off Mallia's miscellany of sources, let's not forget the fugitive hiding out from the law in Canada to avoid a warrant for his arrest. . . Or the Internet poster who dines out of a dumpster and sneaks into the University at night to use its computers. Oh course, Mallia did not tell his readers any of that."

**THE KEY SECTIONS OF THE FLYER**

The Church of Scientology REPLIES (5 pages)
See above quotes.

The Facts the Herald Avoided (2 pages)
Short letters. First letter from Rev. Alfreddie Johnson,
Founder, World Literacy Crusade.

The Herald Unmasked (2 pages)
This is a rebuttal of the "lies" made in the Herald about LRH's life by Dan Sherman "Official" biographer. Nice picture of a pile of Naval awards and Hubbard in Naval uniform with "cool" dark glasses.

Who is L.Ron Hubbard (2 pages)
Bio claims. "Indeed, it is not commonly realized that Mr. Hubbard was an accomplished professional in 29 different fields as diverse as aviation, horticulture, cinematography, music and administration." and "Few are aware that while residing in England in the 1960's, his horticultural research included the means to improve crop yield in famine prone countries."

The Church of Scientology and the works of its Members (4 pages) General PR, by Frank Ofman. Starts with lines like, " Long before the Herald decided to publish its recent series of articles, it would have been a rare citizen who did not know at least something of the prominence of Scientologists in and around Boston." I guess I grew up in a family of "rare citizens", actually by this criteria everyone I know in town is a "rare citizen". Well Cambridge is a special place.

The Humanitarian Works of L.Ron Hubbard (2 pages)
Basically an advertisement for three books on LRH.

I am a Scientologist (2 pages)
Looks like the same short letters that made up the bulk of the "diverse" SPAM that hit a.r.s. recently. One celebrity letter from Chick Corea.

The Global Scientology Information Center (2 pages)
Ad for their web site. Also claiming that it set historic Internet access records when it was put on line! It's a good thing Internet usage is the easiest thing in the world to track and verify or else this kind of claim would be hard to prove. ("He used sarcasm!" Monty Python).

********************************

I can't believe I actually bothered to type all this in. I guess that shows you have much motivation littering someone's front yard can generate. Cambridge will not swallow this kind of "dreck" sitting down.

Also of note: This flyer was around CambridgePort and other "slightly" less well to do areas but I did not find it in mid Cambridge or other "high rent" areas. Can any other Cambridge residents confirm if their area got "hit"?