Britain's secret mission to expose Scientology leader as 'fraud' British diplomats compiled evidence 30 years ago that the founder of Scientology, L Ron Hubbard, was a "fraud", according to National Archive papers.   By Alastair Jamieson
Published: 9:11AM BST 06 Aug 2009      Whitehall officials discovered the science-fiction writer, who invented a religion now followed by celebrities such as Tom Cruise, awarded himself a PhD from a sham college he had acquired in California. The information was gathered in secret by workers at the British consulate in Los Angeles on behalf of the government, which feared a libel action following its 1968 decision to ban followers from entering Britain to visit the sect's headquarters in East Grinstead, West Sussex. The documents show Britain was not alone in probing Scientology. The dossier of evidence, gathered during the 1970s, included the extraordinary claim by an American official that the sect had sent bogus doctors to hypnotise a legal investigator and declare him ‘mentally ill’ to thwart his inquiries into their activities. The Department of Health files, many of which were classified until 2019, have been released by the National Archive following a Freedom of Information request by The Times. They include a signed statement by former senior Scientologist, John McMaster, who said Hubbard and others faked ‘qualifications’ in Dianetics, the spiritual ‘science’ behind Scientology. He said: "I understand it is asserted that L Ron Hubbard was awarded the degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Sequoia University on February 10, 1953, in recognition of his outstanding work in the fields of Dianetics and Scientology and that the said degree was recorded with the Department of Education of the State of California. “The position is L Ron Hubbard (and others) acquired premises somewhere in Los Angeles which they had registered as a university called Sequoia and immediately awarded each other doctorates.” The inquiries were initiated by Whitehall officials who sent an urgent telegram from London to the British consulate in LA. A reply on April 26, 1977 said: "After exhaustive enquiries we have now tracked down organisation named which was closed down by state authorities in 1971 and all documents impounded. The facts are that it neither has nor ever had approval and its status is not recognised in California ... It is a 'will of the wisp' organisation which has no premises and does not really exist. It has not and never had any authority whatso-ever to issue diplomas or degrees and the dean is sought by the authorities 'for questioning'.” The archives also show that American officials were investigating the origins of Hubbard’s qualifications. A letter from the California bureau of school approvals about the Sequoia university states: "This institution has never been approved or recognised by this office. Repeated attempts have been made to obtain compliance with the legal requirements. None of these attempts have proved successful." A further telegram of evidence, dated May 18, 1977 and written by Louis Sherbourne, of the British Consulate-General in Los Angeles, said:…

 Sarah Palin builds fence to keep out biographer neighbour   Sarah Palin, the former governor of Alaska, has put up a 14ft (4.3m) fence at her home to prevent her new neighbour – a writer working on a book about her – from peering in.  Read Article     

 Arizona's shameful 'immigration' bill  It is nothing short of astonishing that Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer Friday signed a bill that could make it dangerous just to look Hispanic.

That’s not the purpose of the new law, of course. As The Post reported, the law “requires authorities in Arizona to question people about their immigration status if there is reason to suspect they are in the country illegally.” The Arizona Republic notes that it “would require anyone whom police suspect of being in the country illegally to produce ‘an alien registration document,’ such as a green card or other proof of citizenship, such as a passport or Arizona driver's license.”What does this mean in practice? Here’s what the Republic -- not by any stretch a left-wing newspaper -- said about the bill in an editorial:The broad anti-immigrant bill passed by the Legislature this week makes it a crime to be in the country illegally and gives local cops the job of demanding documentation if they have reasonable suspicion someone lacks it.The need to carry proper ‘papers’ falls squarely on Arizona's Latino population -- including those born and raised in the Grand Canyon State. The bill invites racial profiling and ignores the fact that Latinos are an intrinsic part of Arizona's history and its future. Arizona's senators should know that.The bill . . . is bringing thundering bad publicity that will echo for years to come. It will lead to lost economic-development opportunities, lost tourism and lost opportunities to expand our trade and commercial ties with Mexico.It’s rather strange that many who say they mistrust government overreach could support a law of this sort. Religious leaders, conservative as well as progressive, have been among the most powerful voices against this. The organization Faith in Public Life sent out an e-mail that included many responses from the religious community, among them was: The Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, president of National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference: “If you are Hispanic in Arizona, you just became a suspect and open to police harassment.”

The New Evangelical Partnership for the Common Good declared that the law would have the effect of “mandating racial profiling, criminalizing ministry to undocumented immigrants, separating immigrant families, and exacerbating a climate of fear and suspicion that pits neighbor against neighbor.” It called it a “wholly unbiblical and immoral law.”

And Gideon Aronoff, the president and CEO of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, said the law means that “Arizonans are now living in a world where police may impound vehicles transporting anyone found to be an undocumented immigrant, which means that Arizonans who don’t check the papers of the kids they drive to Sunday school may now be engaging in illegal activity.”It’s good that President Obama condemned this bill -- and very sad that Sen. John McCain, long a reasonable and humane voice on immigration but now facing a tough Republican primary, supported it.“Obviously there is very high frustration over the issue of illegal immigration,” Joe Rubio, lead Arizona…

 Copenhagen climate summit in disarray after 'Danish text' leakDeveloping countries react furiously to leaked draft agreement that would hand more power to rich nations, sideline the UN's negotiating role and abandon the Kyoto protocol

• Read the 'Danish text'
• In pictures: Copenhagen day twoComments (278)  John Vidal in Copenhagen guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 8 December 2009 Article history The UN Copenhagen climate talks are in disarray today after developing countries reacted furiously to leaked documents. Photograph: Attila Kisbenedek/AFP/Getty Images   The UN Copenhagen climate talks are in disarray today after developing countries reacted furiously to leaked documents that show world leaders will next week be asked to sign an agreement that hands more power to rich countries and sidelines the UN's role in all future climate change negotiations. The document is also being interpreted by developing countries as setting unequal limits on per capita carbon emissions for developed and developing countries in 2050; meaning that people in rich countries would be permitted to emit nearly twice as much under the proposals. The so-called Danish text, a secret draft agreement worked on by a group of individuals known as "the circle of commitment" – but understood to include the UK, US and Denmark – has only been shown to a handful of countries since it was finalised this week. The agreement, leaked to the Guardian, is a departure from the Kyoto protocol's principle that rich nations, which have emitted the bulk of the CO2, should take on firm and binding commitments to reduce greenhouse gases, while poorer nations were not compelled to act. The draft hands effective control of climate change finance to the World Bank; would abandon the Kyoto protocol – the only legally binding treaty that the world has on emissions reductions; and would make any money to help poor countries adapt to climate change dependent on them taking a range of actions. The document was described last night by one senior diplomat as "a very dangerous document for developing countries. It is a fundamental reworking of the UN balance of obligations. It is to be superimposed without discussion on the talks". A confidential analysis of the text by developing countries also seen by the Guardian shows deep unease over details of the text. In particular, it is understood to: • Force developing countries to agree to specific emission cuts and measures that were not part of the original UN agreement;• Divide poor countries further by creating a new category of developing countries called "the most vulnerable";• Weaken the UN's role in handling climate finance;• Not allow poor countries to emit more than 1.44 tonnes of carbon per person by 2050, while allowing rich countries to emit 2.67 tonnes. Developing countries that have seen the text are understood to be furious that it is being promoted…

  October 10, 2009NY Times EditorialThe Peace Prize   President Obama responded to the news of his Nobel Peace Prize the right way. He said he was humbled, acknowledged that the efforts for which he was honored are only beginning and pledged to see them through, not on his own but in concert with other nations.There cannot have been unbridled joy in the White House early Friday. Mr. Obama’s aides had to expect a barrage of churlish reaction, and they got it. The left denounced the Nobel committee for giving the prize to a wartime president. The right proclaimed that Mr. Obama sold out the United States by engaging in diplomacy. Members of the dwindling band of George W. Bush loyalists also sneered — with absolutely no recognition of their own culpability — that Mr. Obama has not yet ended the wars in Afghanistan and in Iraq.Certainly, the prize is a (barely) implicit condemnation of Mr. Bush’s presidency. But countering the ill will Mr. Bush created around the world is one of Mr. Obama’s great achievements in less than nine months in office. Mr. Obama’s willingness to respect and work with other nations is another.Mr. Obama has bolstered this country’s global standing by renouncing torture, this time with credibility; by pledging to close the prison camp at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba; by rejoining the effort to combat climate change and to rid the world of nuclear weapons; by recommitting himself to ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; and by offering to engage Iran while also insisting that it abandon its nuclear ambitions. Mr. Obama did not seek the prize. It is a reminder of the extraordinarily high expectations for any American president — and does bring into sharp focus all that he has left to do to make the world, and this country, safer. In Iraq, Mr. Obama is still a long way from managing an orderly withdrawal that does not leave a power vacuum and inflame a volatile region. He must decide, soon, on a strategy for Afghanistan that will do what Mr. Bush failed to do — defeat Al Qaeda and contain the Taliban — without miring American and allied troops in an endless unwinnable conflict.To make real progress toward Mr. Obama’s declared goal of a world without nuclear weapons, the United States and Russia must both agree to deep cuts in their nuclear arsenals. If, as we suspect, Iran refuses to give up its illicit nuclear activities, Mr. Obama will have to press the rest of the world’s big powers to impose tough sanctions. He must come up with a more effective strategy to roll back North Korea’s nuclear program.While he has made an excellent start on climate change with new regulations that finally begin to grapple with carbon emissions, the United States has to lead the way to a global agreement. Mr. Obama is going to have to overcome narrow-minded opposition in Congress to keep his promise to close Guantánamo and deal with its inmates in a way consistent with the…