by British diplomats 30 years ago.

British diplomats investigating the qualifications of L Ron Hubbard exposed the Scientology founder as a fraud 30 years ago.

The science-fiction writer, who invented the religion now followed by celebrities including Tom Cruise and John Travolta, awarded himself a PhD from a sham 'diploma mill' college he had acquired in California.

British consulate workers in Los Angeles secretly gathered information on behalf of the government.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1204715/Scientology-founder-L-Ron-Hubbard-exposed-fraud-British-diplomats-30-years-ago.html#ixzz0NRfqKOXL
...

Would you allow Exxon/Mobil to post a fake news article on your website, promoting their "non-profit environmental group", who's sole purpose for existing is to promote Exxon/Mobil's products?

Probably not, right?

Just because the Church (ahem, Cult) of Scientology has unlimited funds to set up these slick and harmless looking non-profits does not mean they are legitimate. Please look deeper into this.

Drug-Free Marshals, Narconon, Way To Happiness Foundation, The Earth Organization, and so many others are all front groups whose sole purpose is to promote the works of their founder and cult leader, L. Ron Hubbard.[1]

Your editorial policies prohibit the selling of products and services, as stated: " 'Borderline' advertising or promotional material (i.e. events charging admissions that are not clearly fundraisers, ecological service businesses, etc.)"

The person posting these fake news articles works for the Public Relations department at a "Church of Scientology". They are selling L. Ron Hubbard and his products, the only church that charges its individual parishioners upwards of $300,000 to achieve their brand of "advancement". They are currently spending millions on a slick national TV advertising campaigns[2]. If you look into their seedy past and how they acquired their "non-profit" status, essentially blackmailing the IRS, you would be appalled.[3]

I do not see that the cult of Scientology's fake news articles, created by their PR departments, fall within your guidelines which state:

• Well-researched, accurate, timely articles
• Investigative reports exposing injustice
• Coverage of Philadelphia city and regional issues
• Stories on events affecting underrepresented groups
• Stories on issues ignored by the mainstream media
• Stories on people or projects working towards social and economic justice
• Eyewitness accounts of progressive actions and demonstrations
• Media analysis
• Information on new forms of organizing and of technology that promote social justice.

I do not see how this article on "the evils of alcohol" fits in with any of the above. It has the appearance of a PSA, maybe, but you do not have to look very deep to find the truth- contact any Narconon, say you are an addict and see what happens, they will sell you a detox program that costs thousands, is not based on sound science and in fact people have died in this program. [4] Investigating this scam would fit the above criteria. Please do not help them promote it.

Please consider banning the corporations of the scientology cult from posting these fake news articles on your website. Indy Media is one of the last hold outs for non-corporate, honest news. Please lets keep it that way!

[1] http://www.lermanet2.com/frontgroups.html
[2] http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-ct-neil28-2009jul28,0,2040712.story
[3] www.TheTruthRundown.org (St. Pete Times an independent newspaper takes on corporate scientology)
[4] http://lermanet.com/narconon/
and
http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Narconon/doesitwork.htm
and
http://whyarewedead.net/watd/index.html

Please note: wikipedia has banned all scientology ISPs from editing, due to abuse. Please consider doing the same.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/05/29/wikipedia-bans-scientolog_n_208967.html

More info at: www.xenu.net

I've spoken with my fellow members of the PhillyIMC collective and we're very wary of banning anyone because of indirect advertising or because they belong to a bad group. We have writers posting items about books they've written that are for sale, but that lack any data as to how to order the book or for how much. We tend to let these slide as they don't directly sell anything.
Fellow members are, at worst, agnostic about whether the Scientologists are a bad group. No one thinks they're a good group. But we're again very wary of setting the precedent of banning a group because they're bad.
Best for now, we think, to just keep doing as we're doing. For people who oppose the Scientologists to attack them with comments after each one of their postings here.