This should have been an epic year of celebrations as L. Ron Hubbard's birthday approaches. Had he not died in 1986, he would be turning 100 this March 13. The old racist would have received a letter of congratulation from the nation's first black president. Obama would likely be unaware that Hubbard's estimation of him didn't extend beyond scrubbing floors.
Scientology's new BFF, the Nation of Islam, is clearly unaware of this as well. But that's another story.
I'm sure there was a degree of anticipation as the clock ticks down the minutes to March 13. Anyone who has ever seen video of a Scientology event knows how much those Scientologists love their LRH! Even though he's been dead for decades they will still applaud a picture of him as if he could hear their adulation from way over in the van Allen belt.
Ron claimed to be a lot of things, but he lied about most of them. He could afford the toys, but lacked talent and ability with the photography and music fields he favored.
Ron the Photographer took snapshots.
Ron the Musicmaker left audio evidence of his lack of talent. His singing, "Thank You For Listening" will send you running for the mental floss.
Ron fancied himself as quite the expert on nearly everything; the nuclear physics class he dropped, musician, storyteller, war hero.
Oh, you didn't know about Ron's exploits on the high seas? They are the stuff of legend, literally. He made it all up, except the stuff that portrays him as an incompetent blunderer with a high opinion of himself.
Two of his biggest hits were the shelling of Mexico's Coronado Islands, and his two day battle with a magnetic sea bed off Oregon. You can look it up. Historian Chris Owen obtained Hubbard's Navy records, Mr. Hubbard having failed to conceive of a Freedom of Information Act.
Mr. Owen's fine and deeply researched work on Hubbard's military service can be found here:
Since L. Ron Hubbard had no idea that his Navy files would be mined, he produced a lot of humbuggery about his service. He claimed to have captained a vessel that was decommissioned after World War 1. He claimed to have received medals that hadn't been issued at the time of his service. His lies about heroism and being wounded in battle were fabrications. He had an ulcer.
Of course, the Scientologists have excuses ready. They claim that Hubbard worked for Navy Intelligence. In a sense, he did. Briefly, at a new duty station, he censored letters for Navy Intel. However, he was one of many set to that task before their duty kicked in. The military can always find work for idle hands. (Never, ever, let them know you can type!)
The Scientologists argue that Hubbard's records were mysteriously stolen and replaced with these fakes. Because he was working on Top Secret stuff, very hush hush and important. And for some reason, this unknown, unimportant sailor's files were tampered with.
Furthermore, research into his DD form 214 reveals there are two copies; one from the FOIA search, and one from Scientology. That DD214 is signed by an officer of whom there is no record. This is illegal, but who will challenge it?
It should be mentioned here that the cult's defense of Operation Snow White, the largest domestic espionage case in US history, resulted in the FBI recovering tons of stolen government documents pertaining to Scientology, is that they were "busted for stealing Xerox paper."
Scientologists are eager to believe all the good things Hubbard had to say about himself. So eager are they, in fact, that they have a whole club dedicated to his memory. The 'Friends of L. Ron Hubbard' are, by and large, Scientologists. Turns out his fiction doesn't have many fans outside Scientology's alternate reality bubble.
The Friends of Ron are the same group that visited Hubbard's birthplace, Tilden Nebraska, and created a rift that exists to this day, between businessmen who stood to profit from a Hubbard-themed and Scientology funded park and people who thought that Hubbard was a lousy famous guy to be burdened with. It's a wonderful story of how decency won out over piles of cash in small-town America.
That was in 2005. This year, the Friends of L. Ron Hubbard resurfaced, planning a private ceremony at the Navy Memorial Foundation to install a plaque for this con man, whose name would go up beside those of men and women who served without lying about it.
Installation of this plaque, visited by thousands traveling through the Washington DC area, would legitimize this fraud.
The first warning of this event was the publication of an invitationto the ceremony. It starts out: "The United States Navy Memorial and The Friends of L. Ron Hubbard invite you to a tribute to L. Ron Hubbard and his shipmates for their World War II service."
However, the Navy Memorial Foundation says it neither sponsored nor endorsed the event. The Foundation was quickly made aware of the controversy surrounding Hubbard's claims.
Furthermore, word went out along veteran lines, through message boards and the StolenValor.com people. Veterans generally despise fake war heros, and Mr. Hubbard already has won a mention on Stolen Valor.
So, what could have been a splendid centennial celebration of Hubbard's fake military record suddenly became a problem.
Could things get any worse for the Friends of L. Ron Hubbard?
Why, yes. Because right in the middle of this flap plops a 26 page article in The New Yorker Magazine, and Hubbard's military record is held to public scrutiny.
Of course, there is a great deal of information about Hubbard online, but this is new and now, and it has spawned a number of other articles and blogs. How terribly inconvenient for the truth to intrude while the Scientologists are trying to spin their fantasy!
The article also mentions the existence of an FBI investigation into Scientology and human trafficking.
When the Friends of L. Ron Hubbard invitation went out, Project Chanology was on top of the situation. Project Chanology is no longer analogous with Anonymous, which has moved on to other things for the most part. They still adopt the Guy Fawkes mask of 'V For Vendetta' and there were plans to turn out at the ceremony to protest this travesty and promote the truth.
Scientologists apparently can't handle the truth. Rather than be challenged with hard questions about Hubbard's service, they canceled their event.
It is said that sunshine disinfects, and exposing the rotten core of Hubbard's military record makes the world a better place. There will be no memorial plaque for L. Ron Hubbard at the Navy War Memorial. That doesn't mean the Friends of Ron can't buy one and hold their own ceremony somewhere on Scientology's brand new War Hero wall. A better choice might be to just drop the damn thing in the ocean, over Oregon's magnetic offshore anomaly.
