Can You Keep a Secret?

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• I think everyone knows, by now, that Tom Cruise and Thomas Szasz are
  linked up through CCHR:
  http://divisionoflabour.com/archives/001386.php
  http://www.mcmanweb.com/cruise_szasz.htm
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Szasz
  But take a look at who is continually defending Szasz:
  http://www.reason.com/0505/cr.js.thomas.shtml
  This is where it gets interesting. Reason 'pretends' to be
  libertarian, what with occasional swipes at the US government and so
  on. But it is actually a Neocon publication. Editor Jacob Sullum has
  close ties to the Competitive Research Institute (CEI). Now they say
  they are advocates of small business, but, if that's true why do they
  get so much money from Exxon?
  http://www.greenpeace.org/international/news/investigation-of-exxon-f...
  CEI's Myron Ebell seems to lead the Exxon charge. Exxon has admitted
  to paying him as much as $125,000 a year, and his net worth is
  estimated to be in the millions.
  But there are even more curious characters. Frequent Reason
  contributor and Sullum disciple John Berlau is currently on the staff
  of CEI. He's written the occasional piece defending Scientology's
  right to exist as a religion. But, more interestingly, he has taken a
  strong interest in the death of Washington, DC, area escort Theresa
  Howell, who worked under the name Summer Breeze. Howell had a problem
  with drugs and alcohol, and, on the DC-based prostitution website
  http://www.bigdoggie.net, she talked of her exploration of Scientology as a
  cure.
  Berlau tried, without apparent success, to conduct his own
  investigation of her death. The police investigation said Howell fell
  down stairs while drunk, Berlau was looking for something else. Ever
  since then, Berlau has occasionally ventured into rather dark
  journalistic and possibly personal territory exploring the sex trade.
  Berlau does not have a good reputation as a journalist, he has
  supposedly blackmailed people into cooperating with him, threatening to
  give them adverse publicity if they will not serve as his journallistic
  sources.
  His claim to fame is the Sandy Hume award, which seems to be about as
  prestigious as a Buzz Lightyear Space Patrol membership badge.
  Often leaping to Berlau's defense is blogger and self-described
  'foodie' Andrew Langer. Langer is running for local office in Virginia
  and has garnered support from both Narconon and Applied Scholastics.
  When it appeared Berlau was involved in a series of prostitution sting
  operations in Maryland, Langer editorialized at length about Berlau on
  his blog. Berlau supposedly participated in the entrapment of
  prostitutes and clients, and offered them "a chance" if they would
  consent to interviews for a book he is writing on the topic. Pollice
  in Montgomery and Prince George's County had to call off the operation
  due to the adverse publicity.
  Also at CEI is lawyer and erotic model Solveig Singleton. She often
  double teams with Ebell on what has to be described as their Exxon
  account, but she's also very active at events in Europe, and was very
  openly critical of the German and French government positions on
  Scientology. CEI must not pay well, as she continues to do
  photoshoots:
  http://www.mccullagh.org/image/d30-4/solveig-8.html
  None of these people can be found in Scientology completions, but it
  certainly is odd that they go to such lengths to defend Scientology and
  its front groups.

• This is a comment that has been repeated on a number of blogs, and thus I am forced to respond to it again here.

  There is an indvidual who is engaging in a concerted campaign to besmirch the reputations of John Berlau, Andrew Langer, Solveig Singleton, and a host of other individuals and organizations.

  The allegations raised by this individual are without merit. While I originally rose to defend the reputation of a colleague from spurious accusations made by anonymous sources, I have now had to rise to defend myself.

  Anyone interested in facts can contact me, either via e-mail or through my blog. The facts regarding the allegations raised can also be found on my blog.

  Sincerely,

  Andrew Langer

  Langrrr@aol.com

  http://langrrr.blogspot.com

• Yeah yeah like we care. Getting you to rise from the Baskin Robbins counter was probably a good thing. Don't know why you are so hung up on John Berlau. Solveig looks like she might be fun after a couple of drinks though and maybe cheaper than one of Berlau's prostitutes.

• John Berlau gives journalism a bad name. He approached me about an article and my employer would not let me do it. He basically extorted me into making them compromise. He's not good enough to deal with them himself. He said he would write stuff about me that made me look incompetent.

  He broke his promise to send a copy after it was published. I found out because someone read it in the magazine. The company said he twisted things around but no one would do anything.

  ps: you gotta wonder about this guy Langer as well

• What article? Where was it published? If Langer is wrong to defend Berlau, then why hasn't anyone put out links to these so-called articles or presentations?

• Andrew Langer? He's a really skinny guy. Anyone who reads his blog knows that he lost something like 50 or 60 pounds two years ago, and has kept the weight off.

  Why don't you post a picture of yourself if you're so hung up on how people look?