Read All About It in the Sunday Papers-Fathers Day Edition

And by fathers, the Beast Who Slumbers emphatically does not mean L. Ron Hubbard, the ‘Father’ of Scientology. Today’s lead story is a chilling glimpse inside the full-fledged cult of Scientology as told by some of the cult’s former leaders themselves. And it’s only the first of a three-parter. Major ‘bulo  Tip of the Sombrero to the irreplaceable Unstable Isotope for bringing this must-read to his (and your) attention:

LEAD STORY: St. Petersburg Times-Former Cult Leaders Unmask the ‘Church’ of Scientology

Similarities to other churches, i. e. mind-control, beating members, lying about it, and threatening legal action, purely not coincidental:

This account comes from executives who for decades were key figures in Scientology’s powerful inner circle. Marty Rathbun and Mike Rinder, the highest-ranking executives to leave the church, are speaking out for the first time.

 Two other former executives who defected also agreed to interviews with the St. Petersburg Times: De Vocht, who for years oversaw the church’s spiritual headquarters in Clearwater, and Amy Scobee, who helped create Scientology’s celebrity network, which caters to the likes of John Travolta and Tom Cruise.

 One by one, the four defectors walked away from the only life they knew. That Rathbun and Rinder are speaking out is a stunning reversal because they were among Miscavige’s closest associates, Haldeman and Ehrlichman to his Nixon.

 Now they provide an unprecedented look inside the upper reaches of the tightly controlled organization. They reveal:

 • Physical violence permeated Scientology’s international management team. Miscavige set the tone, routinely attacking his lieutenants. Rinder says the leader attacked him some 50 times.

• Church staffers covered up how they botched the care of Lisa McPherson, a Scientologist who died after they held her 17 days in isolation at Clearwater’s Fort Harrison Hotel.

• With Miscavige calling the shots and Rathbun among those at his side, the church muscled the IRS into granting Scientology tax-exempt status. Offering fresh perspective on one of the church’s crowning moments, Rathbun details an extraordinary campaign of public pressure backed by thousands of lawsuits.

• To prop up revenues, Miscavige has turned to long-time parishioners, urging them to buy material that the church markets as must-have, improved sacred scripture.

This Church also forces members to write ‘confessions’ and admissions of failings, documents that it then produces when someone dares make an allegation against the Church. 

Just read the whole damn thing and then come back to comment on this (tax-exempt) monstrosity. At least ‘bulo further understands why Tom Cruise and John Travolta seem so…weird.

New York Times-Paul Krugman on the Froomkin Firing

People who were wrong felt that they just had no choice but to fire the people who were right:

Now, you might think that the way things turned out — the total failure of movement conservatism in government, and the abrupt, humiliating end to the Permanent Republican Majority — would lead to some soul-searching. But that’s not how human nature works. Instead, it became more urgent than ever to assert that those who didn’t get with the program were flakes and moonbats, not worthy of being listened to, while those who believed in the right to the bitter end were “serious”.

As any readers of the ‘Sunday Papers’ segment know, ‘bulo generally steers away from citing commentary. But Krugman posits a plausible theory for a firing that otherwise defies logic.

The (UK) Independent-Blair Lobbies for ‘Secret’ Iraq Investigation

Bush’s poodle, now trying to reclaim some glory as he petitions to become EU President, has apparently succeeded in getting the British government to conduct its inquiry into the Iraq War in secret. This would ensure that Blair would not have to testify in public. Needless to say, this has not been greeted with universal hosannas across the Pond:

The row over the decision to hold the Iraq war inquiry behind closed doors escalated last night as it emerged that Tony Blair pressed Gordon Brown to keep it private.

 In a move that will deepen the outrage of families of British soldiers killed in Iraq, the former prime minister, one of the architects of the controversial war, wanted the hearings to be held in secret to avoid a public and media circus.

A public appearance by Mr Blair before the Chilcot inquiry would also damage his ambitions of becoming EU president, a role that needs the support of European countries that opposed the war.

Last Monday the Prime Minister announced the long-awaited inquiry into the war in an attempt to shore up his premiership and appease Labour backbenchers. But he immediately caused anger by revealing that the inquiry, led by Sir John Chilcot and a panel of other privy councillors, would be held in private.

One reason why the Independent is such an excellent paper is that it usually provides informative sidebar articles to accompany a featured story. Such once again is the case here, and you will get more context and perspective on this entire sordid and disastrous affair by clicking on them from the link above. But here’s one you should not miss about the British use and coverup of, wait for it…, torture.

And, if you prefer the coverage by The (UK) Guardian, here’s more first-rate coverage of the coverup.

Financial Times-US & Russia Making Progress on Nuclear Arms Cuts

Cowboy diplomacy indeed appears to be as relevant as a fossilized cow-pie:

A new arms pact to follow the 1991 START treaty, which expires on Dec. 5, is at the centre of efforts by Mr Medvedev and US President Barack Obama to improve bilateral ties which sank to post-Cold War lows under the previous U.S. administration.

A successor treaty aimed at cutting long-range nuclear weapons amassed by the former superpower rivals during the Cold War arms race will be a major topic at talks between Mr Medvedev and Mr Obama in Moscow next month.

Proof that maybe the occasional turd-blossom emerges from a fossilized cow-pie.

Al Jazeera-What’s Really Happening in Iran

Although not technically from the Sunday paper, this thoughtful and nuanced analysis from Mark LeVine is essential reading for anyone trying to understand what’s really going on. Here are a few  ‘grafs to pique your curiosity:

Do the issues motivating the current protests ultimately derive from people’s anger at perceived fraud and not having their votes counted? Or do they, as seems increasingly clear, reflect a much deeper level of anger at, and even opposition to, the nature and governing ideology and practises of the Iranian political system?

What seems evident as the crisis deepens is that Ayatollah Khamenei, who most commentators have long assumed holds near absolute power in the country as Supreme Leader, is in a weaker position than previously believed. The collective religious and military leadership, along with the Revolutionary Guard, will likely have a lot of input into determining what course the government takes.

And it is certainly questionable whether these factions have shared core interests during this crisis, as the Revolutionary Guard – from whose ranks President Ahmadinejad emerged – is both culturally more conservative and economically more populist than much of the political and religious leadership.

The religious establishment is itself split into hard-line, moderate and more progressive factions, each of whose members are tied to factions within the economic, political and security elite, producing a complex and potentially volatile set of competing and contradictory loyalties and interests.

The Bush Administration and its media enablers succeeded in stereotyping Al Jazeera as the house organ of Al Qaeda. In fact, from what ‘bulo reads, it’s one of the very few journalistic organizations seeking to understand and explain the complexities (a word with which the Bush Administration was unfamiliar) of some of the world’s most intractable and explosive problems.

Chicago Sun-Times-Did ‘Deep Throat’ Try to Deep-Six “Deep Throat”?

Fascinating time-capsule story about how the highest higher-ups in the FBI, including J. Edgar himself and possibly Mark ‘the Watergate Deep Throat’ Felt, tried to stop “Deep Throat” from being released. Perhaps more than any film, “Deep Throat” brought pornography into the semi-mainstream and became one of the touchstones for the sexual revolution of the late-’60’s and early ’70’s.

And don’t ask El Somnambulo whether closing his Father’s Day edition with this story has any deep psychological underpinnings. Not even his shrink knows for sure.