Part 28 (2/2)
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* During my last interview with Stefan, in September 2010, he noted that he ultimately came to understand that Miscavige feared appearing to be too much ”in control” of the church, as that might violate the church's agreement with the IRS regarding its tax exemption. According to this agreement, Scientology's Mother Church controls the budgets and the RTC simply oversees copyrights and trademarks.
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* Though Scientologists are not supposed to know the location of the Int Base, nor that it is the seat of international management, the base's location has been public since the 1980s, and maps of its various buildings have been posted on the Internet. Happy Valley, however, was a true ”secret” until 2000, when a German doc.u.mentary team revealed its location. The church, seeking to avoid negative publicity, closed it down.
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* The Church of Scientology denies that Miscavige has ever physically attacked anyone.
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* During the late 1990s, Miscavige spent most of his time in Clearwater. However, according to Marty Rathbun, the leader would often monitor the ”seances” remotely, by instructing an RTC staffer to put a conference phone into the room so he could listen in. ”When he heard something that piqued his interest, he would have his a.s.sistant reach one of those RTC staffers through a separate phone, and then bark his instructions. Many times this had to do with making the confessing person give more details about his or her transgressions, particularly alleged s.e.xual ones. Miscavige would then continue to listen surrept.i.tiously through the conference phone to ensure that his order was complied with satisfactorily.”
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Eighteen months later, Miscavige did acknowledge Tanja's presence one more time, with a single sentence. He otherwise never spoke to nor acknowledged her again.
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* Albeit with a price attached: offloaded Sea Org members are presented with ”freeloader bills” for the years of training and auditing they've received as church employees. All ”blown” staffers must reimburse the church to clear this debt before they can resume auditing and other services and be considered members in good standing. But those who wish to permanently leave Scientology and risk disconnection from their families generally do so without paying their freeloader bill.
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* By 2006, one of those abruptly ”disappeared” from the RTC, and from Int, would be Miscavige's wife, Sh.e.l.ly, who was reportedly exiled to a Church of Scientology compound near Big Bear, California.
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* One of Mike's sisters, an OSA executive, is the president of the Church of Scientology of Los Angeles; the other, also in Los Angeles, is the headmistress of the upper school at Delphi. Two of Mike's nephews are in the Sea Org, posted at Int, and Mike's son is also in the Sea Org, posted at the American Saint Hill Organization, on the PAC Base.
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* Because the Fort Harrison serves as both hotel and ”religious retreat,” all of the renovations, which include gold-leaf crown moldings and a chandelier made of twelve thousand crystals, were installed tax free, under the church's 501c3 tax exemption. This exemption has saved the church roughly $1.2 million in property taxes in Clearwater. Still, Scientology paid $800,000 in property taxes on nonreligious, revenue-generating property in 2008, which church officials maintain makes the Church of Scientology the largest single property taxpayer in the city, as well as the largest property owner.
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As it is recognized as a crucial partner in the city's downtown development scheme, the church has so far been spared the collection of more than $300,000 in liens that has been levied against the church by the city of Clearwater over Scientology's ”Mecca” building.
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* Whether the black community will truly take to Scientology is anyone's guess. Proselytizing to the poor through missionary efforts and other activities is the work of modern churches. Scientology, however, is a corporation; the sustainability of its connection with Farrakhan or any other black leader will ultimately rest on whether such leaders are willing to embrace Scientology's Bridge to Total Freedom, which is a pay-as-you-go endeavor.
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* Nas himself never used this term. In an interview shortly before his alb.u.m was released, in October 2006, the rapper explained, ”When I say 'Hip-hop is dead,' basically America is dead ... There is no political voice. Music is dead ... Our way of thinking is dead, our commerce is dead. Everything in this society has been done.” See Shaheen Reid, ”Nas Previews 'Hip Hop Is Dead ... the N,'” MTV.com, October 10, 2006.
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