September 19, 1998 - AndroidCat

I missed the events on Friday, because I had the flu and was staying bed all day. (1. I needed the energy, 2. Why spread Flu Thetans?)

I got there just before 10am: someone had removed the Don Valley Parkway and I was still slow-moving due to the flu (an expresso helped). But I did have a couple new signs. Selecting "Staff members get a 10% commission on sales. Is this a church?" / "Scientology: The Gerbil-Wheel to Total Freedom", I headed up to the org.

As I walked up, looking for Gregg to get my picket id (sucking on one of Alan/Artemis's (costs a) mints, just the thing for my throat!), the lady out front (playing sidewalk games) with the Eternal Film camera looked at my Vancouver sweatshirt, and said "You came here from Vancouver? What a scum!" (Ahh, that Scieno clear-cognition "steal-trap" mind at work! I was tempted to tell her that I was Martin. I also wonder what she would have said if I had been wearing a DisneyWorld sweatshirt??)

Other than the police officer being late (I guess he tried the DVP too!) the morning was relatively uneventful. The main act was definitely Bob. I could tell he was enjoying himself. And wouldn't you? If I'd been roughed up on my last picket, hassled on my own property before then, and here I was in a city where Co$ was paying for our police protection (KaChing!), and I could drag the Co$'s pockets into court along with whatever fool who tried something, hell! I'd be dancing while yelling something borrowed from Gilbert and Sullivan! (Rather than the marks or the mask, I'd have visited a grocery store. "Scientology, it's a load'o'baloney!")

We broke early for lunch. Between the 15 or so picketers, and a whole bunch of CoS, the sidewalk was crowded enough even before the lunch-time crowd started. (One secret weapon Toronto ARSCC(wdne) has is that Gregg has police procedure in his blood, and knows what an officer will be worried about, and can address it before it's a problem. When pushing the last few percent of your civil rights, politeness *never* hurts, and making life tough for someone who has difficult job to do is dumb, and making his job easier is smart. [Your country may vary.]) Gregg assured the officer that while there would be more picketers after lunch, we'd try to keep the sidewalk open.

Everyone's probably read this, but I'll paste it in for completeness.

Scientology members at today's picket accepted *Minton* money! (Or maybe Minton foodstamps...)

They tried the lamebrain tactic of going to the restaurant while we were stowing signs at lunchbreak, and grabbing scattered tables to make sure we couldn't all sit together. Too bad for them Gregg's SP tech was too much for them--he thought of the most juvenile stunt CoS could possibly pull at lunch, and reserved a whole section of tables in the morning, and *bingo*, he was right!

So they all ended up grouped at a single table. They didn't look too unhappy, they never eat at this restaurant, and this was probably on the books as a paid OSA mission. But, aha!, while they were relaxing, BoB used his SP wiles learned from Germans and arranged with the waitress to pickup the cheque. So they they'll be full of suppressive food for the next couple of days. (Don't worry--absolutely no psyck drugs were added to the food. The drinks, um, no comment. Anyway, this too shall pass. ;^)

A nod of respect to the OSA members who acknowledged the gesture. That was a decent human response, and I'll keep that in mind in future pickets. (I can't speak for Bob's motives, only speculate: "Hey, they're not attacking me, what the hell, they're paying for the police protection, I'll get the lunch!")

And BoB picked up our tab too. Thank you! (Let's see, that's a total of $5.50 CDN.) (Wait, there was that Polish-Canadian living in Spain who bought drinks a couple months ago. $11 CDN, and *still* no Prozac!)

And for the wgertii: Yes, I believe Bob did have a beer. So did a few other people. I had a Guiness and a water. So I guess you could claim that we were "a mob, reeking of alcohol"! (Well, *you* could! Oink!)(The scienos did mainly have Perrier and ginger ale--but that was before they knew their drinks were paid for.)

There were a number of calls during lunch. Bob got photos of all the callers, but due to lack of compatibility between Gregg's phone and Bob's camera, all that showed up was pictures of Gregg grinning. When Jesse called, we resisted the temptation to call over to the OSA bunch "Hey, Jesse Prince says Hi! Cooie!".

After that, we went back at it. A friend of mine, beast, (unknown person in one of the lunch pictures) who offered to picket right after the last picket joined us at lunch, and had my other sign "Scientology harasses the families of critics" / "Scientology stalks the children of critics". (Looked like hell, I had to do it freehand due to lack of time.)

This time, in order to avoid too much concentration, Gregg stretched the picket around the corner almost down to the "chapel". That worked better, plus everyone felt free to take a coffee/smoke break. It certainly seemed to enturbulate the members down in the back rooms. Normally they can hide back there and not see our eevil picket signs. (I made sure that my "gerbil-wheel" sign side was facing them.)

Finally, about 3pm, Co$ managed to master that photocopier tech and produce copies of the Bob Minton DA sheet. (Hello! You knew he was coming, you had people in from Boston, but it took until almost 3pm to produce the DA sheets?)(And you're lucky--I was planning on doing a face of bigotry leaflet until the flu wacked me.)

A while after that (4pm ish?) Bob and Stacy did split to a secret location to upload photos, and prep for the apres-picket. Right after they grabbed a cab, four younger members of the bund, er, Co$ jumped into a car, but with all the traffic between the cab and them, they had no chance to follow. (Tip: Careful about scanners and taxi communications.)

We did see the "Dianetics Mobile". Some sucker had his car painted lime-green, with "Dianetics" and the phone number painted on it. (Deep Wog got some video of it.)

Be on the watch for "Conversation tech", it's hoot! After Bob and Stacy left early (to upload photos and stuff), well over an hour after Co$ started pushing their idiot DA pack, there were a few OSA Co$ members around the corner of the org (we'd flooded the front of the org, and were picketing halfway down the side) who lounged around the newspaper and postboxes, and LOUDLY held a "conversation"--since they weren't supposed to interfere with us. "This guy is supposed to be their leader, but one leaflet, and he's gone." (In LOUD hushed tones).

It sounded stupid the first time I heard it, it sounded *really* stupid the next time I passed and heard it. The third time I passed and heard *exactly* the *same* "conversation", I almost coughed my lungs out in laughter! (I'm recovering from the flu. Can I sue them for assault with a deadly joke?) Where *do* they find these idiots??

Most unusual for a Toronto picket, there were actually a couple attempts to handle us. One woman did what passes for debate in Co$: "Who does this help?" "I hope it helps the people who might otherwise get involved in Scientology." "What do you mean by people?" "People who..." "What do you mean by..." At that point, feeling drained due to the flu, I did shake my head sadly and walked away rather than saying "People like Lisa McPherson".

Beast made the comment that they'll never sell anything if no one seems to be enjoying themselves--and there was only one Co$ member who definitely seemed to be enjoying himself--a bearded gent who was at the lunch, I think. When offered a flyer, he said (with a grin even!) "No thanks, I know all about them". Who *is* this guy? (Andy Hill from the photos) (He should have a t-shirt "I'm with stupid" and arrows pointing in all directions.)

There was another guy who *almost* seemed to enjoy himself. (Probably out of towner.) He kept asking picketers if they knew what a rock-slam was, and offering to put us on the cans. Since my left hand was cramping badly by them, I wasn't about to grab anything. (Still, next time, I'm there! And I may or may not wear an e-meter joybuzzer.) I wonder if the Boston team brought e-meters with them? I've never seen that many modern e-meters in Toronto. (I bet he never offered to put Stacy on the cans!)

And then we were done.

After the badges were handed in, I really wasn't up for much, so I wobbled off with beast and wench, did a light dinner, caught a light entertainment movie (Rush Hour, not bad for what it is), went home, posted a bit, went to bed, stayed in bed Sunday. Ugh! "I'm not dead yet!" "I'm feeling better!" ;^)

It's a shame that I never got to talk to Bob or Stacy much, but pushing myself any further would have been silly. Oh, I did take a look at Bob's picket signs: Yup, at most 1"x1"x3'ish balsa wood. (Real numbers, not lumber numbers.)

Picket evaluation:
In terms of the public, we did hand out more flyers than ever before. However I don't think we were that much more effective than usual. On the down side, there were so many of us, we might have made the Co$ look like the underdog. (And it takes a bit of explaining that we aren't really organized when there's 18 of us.)

In terms of the Co$, Bwahaha! We stomped them! They sent a 10 member team from Boston (KaChing!), who had to twiddle their thumbs for the most part due to Canadian laws, the cult's criminal record, and the hired police officer (KaChing!) out front. (Picketing Gregg's place was a face-saving sop, that didn't do anything except informing the public about what loons they are.) And they had to pull in all local staff (KaChing?) and surrounding orgs (KaChing?), exposing them to entheta and high-level materials. Meanwhile Bob and Stacy and a record number of picketers picketed undisturbed by Co$ thuggery. (The best they could do was Whimpy making googly eyes spying through a window.)

And *that* was the message of this picket: No matter how much effort Co$ makes, there are places and people they just can't stop. And the more they try, the more it will cost them, and the more people will turn out to protest. Deal with it!