Claude Vorilhon now known as “Rael” has finally fulfilled his childhood fantasies and became famous, or some might observe infamous.

But whatever anyone says the “clone cult” leader now has the attention he apparently always craved.

However, a biography based upon facts rather than self-promotion and science fiction is finally emerging about Vorilhon, reports the London Mail.

Vorilhon was apparently a failure before he became “Rael.” The would-be pop star, racecar driver and magazine publisher, had what appears to be a history of unfulfilled fantasies.

The self-proclaimed prophet who says he once visited another planet is a “monster,” according to his mother. Who says, “What he is doing now is vile. I have not seen him for ten years and I’ll be happy if I never see him again.”

And isn’t it your own family that knows you best?

The facts about the Raelian leader are quite different from the myth he has spun for his fawning followers and the media. Vorilhon failed abysmally as both a father and husband. His two children reportedly even want to change their names.

Like other cult leaders such as David Koresh, Charles Manson and Jim Jones, Vorilhon seems to be driven by his own needs, appetites and personal history.

According to the aunt who raised him Vorilhon was “rejected” by his mother. And like many cult leaders with a similarly troubled childhood little Claude grew up with a “self-belief bordering on arrogance,” she said.

Charles Manson never knew his father and his single mother often abandoned him. Jim Jones was estranged from his father who was a member of the Ku Klux Klan, his parents divorced when he was 14. David Koresh was also the child of single mother who frequently left him to be raised largely by his grandparents.

Vorilhon insists his father is an alien being from outer space that artificially inseminated his mother.

Personal failures followed. Rael’s aunt says her nephew’s repeated efforts as an adult to become famous “fizzled out.”

Manson and Koresh both had histories of failure. Manson spent much of his life in reformatories as a juvenile and later served prison sentences. Koresh was a ninth grade drop out, who drifted in life and wanted to be a rock musician before joining the Branch Davidians and eventually seizing power in the group.

Vorilhon would fulfill his childhood fantasies by supposedly encountering space aliens in 1973. The aliens would tell him what he had always wanted to hear. That message would be essentially that he was special, chosen and above other men.

David Koresh received the revelation that he was “The Lamb” and saw himself as a messiah. Charles Manson and Jim Jones both believed they were chosen to play pivotal roles in history. And Koresh, Manson and Jones all used their unique position of power to exploit members sexually.

Vorilhon now has a “mission” and his belief system likewise fulfills his personal needs.

Rael’s former wife says he has “some sort of psychological grip” on people. She explains, “The whole Raelian movement was a trick to have more sex and to satisfy the enormous ego and need to be worshipped that he had always had.”

In the end it all sounds like the same old story reported so many times before. The history of the man, who would be “clone” king, is really rather typical when compared to known destructive cult leaders of the past.

Associated Press (AP) appears to be soft-peddling Falun Gong and its leader Li Hongzhi.

In an AP report about the sentencing of Falun Gong devotees regarding a series of criminal break-ins the movement was described as “a mix of slow-motion exercise and doctrines drawn from Buddhism and Taoism and the ideas of its founder, Li Hongzhi.”

But why doesn’t the AP report in-depth about Hongzhi’s “ideas”?

Hongzhi’s “ideas” include a racist philosophy and homophobia. And supernatural claims that he can levitate, become invisible and knows the secrets of the universe.

Hongzhi also believes that space aliens are “embedding technology in human minds…[to] control thoughts.”

And this forms the basis for an alleged conspiracy which relegates ”mixing the races of humans” to a plot by “aliens make humans cast off gods.”

Hongzhi’s homophobia has reached venal proportions. He once stated publicly that gay people will be ”eliminated” by ”the gods.”

The Falun Gong founder also says that physical illnesses are the result of an individual’s misdeeds. And he has written, “The only way to find yourself comfortably free of illnesses, is through cultivation practice!”

The Chinese government says Hongzhi’s approach to health has taken its toll through the deaths of many of his followers.

So why doesn’t the AP simply discuss in detail what Hongzhi’s “ideas” are all about? For the AP to do otherwise seems somewhat misleading.

It looks like the Raelians are trying to cash in on all the free publicity they received regarding their now seemingly bogus cloning claims.

But the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is watching Clonaid, the company run by Raelian Bishop Brigitte Boisselier, reports Knight Ridder.

Clonaid is trying to sell venture capitalists on pumping in some cash. Investors can get in for a minimum $25,000.

One family says Clonaid bilked them out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Clonaid Vice President and Raelian Thomas Kaenzig spoke at the MoneyWorld 2003 Investment and Trading Conference recently held in Florida. He admitted that the SEC has contacted him.

A financial expert said investors should be wary of Clonaid. The analyst concluded, “Until they supply financial disclosure forms and DNA proof of the cloning, this is nothing more than a biotechnology Enron.”

This sounds like an understatement.

Enron and its CEO Ken Lay seem like Standard Oil and Rockefeller when compared to Boisselier and Clonaid.

Devout Scientologist Tom Cruise continues to be mentioned in the press regarding his relationship with an heir to Australia’s greatest fortune, reports The New Zealand Herald.

James Packer, son of billionaire Kerry Packer, landed at New Plymouth airport in an executive jet over the weekend to visit the American movie star, now shooting his latest film there.

The two are buddies and persistent reports claim that the friendship prompted Packer to explore Scientology.

It seems like Tom Cruise is effectively chumming the waters “down under” for Scientology by using his star status to catch big fish for the controversial church, which has been called a “cult.”

And he may have caught a whopper for Scientology if Packer has become involved.

However, the “Sci-fi cult” doesn’t always keep its catch.

Nicole Kidman has apparently broken away from Scientology. And both Nicholas Cage and Michael Jackson left hardcore follower Lisa Marie Presley, without becoming deeply involved.

But a billionaire Aussie would certainly be a good swap for Kidman.

Hollywood celebrity appears to be a flashy lure when “cults” cruise for converts.

The Mungiki sect or “cult” has a horrific history of murder and mayhem in Kenya. Last week alone 32 people were murdered by cult members, only the latest victims of the cult’s reign of terror, reports Sunday Nation.

However, the international media rarely devotes its resources for meaningful in-depth coverage of the brutal cult killings in Africa.

Why?

When 39 members of a relatively obscure American cult known as “Heaven’s Gate” committed suicide in 1997 it made headlines and generated seemingly endless journalistic analysis.

And in 1994 when 53 members of the then obscure Solar Temple were found dead in Switzerland, that too became the focus of rapt international press concern.

The Mungiki movement may include more than 2 million members and seems intent upon destablizing a government.

Just after 2000 hundreds of bodies were recovered in Uganda, the direct result of brutal cult slayings and suicide connected to “The Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments.” But again this didn’t generate the same international news coverage that much less historically significant cults did outside of Africa .

Why?

In 1978 when 900 Americans died in an isolated cult compound in Guyana called “Jonestown” there was no shortage of journalists willing to cover that story. More than that number probably died in Uganda, but we will never know due to a lack of forensic assistance and it seems international interest.

Apparently African cult tragedies somehow don’t rate the same attention from the international media and community.

It appears that many news outlets think cult members must be white, American, European or at least from an industrialized nation such as Japan (i.e. Aum), to be worthy serious concern and meaningful in-depth reporting.

A Michigan man removed his two minor children from a controversial church in North Carolina called a “cult,” reports the Digital Courier.

The sheriff assisted Andre Clark when he sought his children, which had somehow been placed with families associated with the Word of Faith Fellowship(WOFF), led by Jane Whaley.

However, Shana Muse, another parent seeking the release of her four minor children from WOFF has not yet received the same assistance from local authorities.

Muse has waited a month now to be reunited permanently with her children, while authorities dither and seem needlessly deferential to Whaley and her followers.

When will the red tape and seemingly endless due process reach a conclusion for the distraught mother?

Can there be any doubt that Whaley and her followers do not have the authority to separate a mother from her minor children?

Scientology has been fined $1,370 and ordered to pay court costs of $17,800 for libeling a Danish journalist and German filmmaker, reports Associated Press.

Danish journalist Joergen Pedersen and German filmmaker Walther Heynowski were trashed in the Scientology magazine “Freedom” after they refused to stop production of a television show critical of the controversial church, which has been called a “cult.”

“Freedom” published a totally false report that claimed Heynowski once worked for Stasi and in turn trained Pederson.

Stasi was a notorious network of informants once used to suppress the citizens of Communist East Germany.

After Scientology suffered the legal defeat in Copenhagen its spokesperson said, “We are quite shocked about this ruling because it stops the freedom of speech.”

What?

Coming from one of the most noted and active litigates that often sues and harasses its critics on the Internet it seems bizarre that a Scientologist would now cry for “freedom of speech.”

It appears this protest is more of a pragmatic pose than anything based upon principles.

Don’t expect to see Scientology lawyers relax their efforts to suppress free speech amongst their perceived enemies anytime soon.

David Pearl, once a member of a reputed Sci-fi “cult” called “BDX” entered a guilty plea regarding a murder plot, reports the Baltimore Sun.

And what about Pearl’s leader?

Scott Caruthers, the mastermind behind BDX, is using a insanity defense. His lawyer said, “Once the judge has the psychiatric report, I expect my client will be placed under the care of the state for appropriate treatment.”

However, Caruthers’ hopes he won’t be locked up in a mental hospital. His attorney says, “There is no reason that this [should] be inpatient treatment. No one thinks of him as a danger to himself or to others.”

Huh?

Wasn’t Caruthers charged for planning to kill someone?

However, it is easy to see that the “cult leader” is a mental case. Amongst his grandiose claims Caruthers said he was from outer space.

Hey wait a minute, doesn’t this sound like publicity hound Claude Vorilhon, now known as “Rael,” of recent “Clone Cult” fame? The Raelian leader says his dad was from outer space.

The Caruthers case brings out the often-observed fact that many cult leaders are not exactly poster boys and girls for mental health.

Not content to simply be a movie star, Tom Cruise once again used his celebrity to promote Scientology’s agenda by essentially attacking the mental health profession during an interview, reports The Age.

The devout Scientologist star was interviewed while filming a movie in Australia. Cruise said, “Today in America I know they are so quick to put children on drugs because they are not learning well.” An apparent reference to medications like Ritalin, which are prescribed for children with disabilities.

Cruise was supposedly “helped” regarding his own learning disability through Scientology’s “technology.” However, no objective scientific study has been peer-reviewed and published that substantiates Scientology’s so-called “study tech.”

Instead, the controversial church, which has been called a “cult,” relies upon stars like Cruise that use their celebrity as a vehicle to tout the tech through anecdotal stories.

Kirstie Alley offers similar testimonials regarding her recovery from drug addiction through Narconon, a program based upon Scientology teachings.

Interestingly, Cruise’s former wife Nicole Kidman’s father is a psychologist. But the mental health profession is often maligned by Scientology, which sees itself as the true path to mental health.

It is rumored that Scientology may have been a factor in the Cruise-Kidman divorce. Kidman is a Catholic.

Perhaps Tom Cruise is still “not learning well.” At 40 he has two failed marriages and is apparently planning a third to actress Penelope Cruz, another Catholic.

The 10th U.S. Court of Appeals upheld the dismissal of Amway as a defendant in Proctor & Gamble’s lawsuit, which alleged the multi level marketer and its distributors spread rumors that the products giant promoted “Satanism,” reports the Detroit Free Press.

Lawsuits in Texas against individual Amway distributors will continue, but the Amway Corp. itself is out.

Many “Diamonds,” key major distributors within Amway, are Christian fundamentalists and some seem to promote a strange mix of religion and sales that often appears to make their business seem “sanctified.” Maybe some within Amway see the competition as “Satanic”?

However, according to a Proctor & Gamble spokesperson, “Since these lawsuits were filed, the rumors have essentially stopped.”

Amway has a troubled history of lawsuits, complaints and bad press. Could this be Satan’s work?