Cult News

There was a time when 43-year-old Tom Cruise was Hollywood’s “Golden Boy,” but now pundits are wondering if Scientology’s “Top Gun” has lost his punch at the box office.

It may be that his penchant for preaching Scientology rather than sticking to an understandable script has stymied the star.

The Mission Impossible franchise is on the block and if MI-III flops, it’s unlikely there will be a number four. Cruise’s star power may have faded along with his public image. Increasingly, the middle-aged icon is dismissed as damaged goods by his critics and he needs a big hit for vindication.

Early reviews are not all that encouraging.

“As for the Tom Cruise movie star franchise, I fear that MI-III marks the beginning of its obsolescence,” reports London’s Sunday Times.

Times critic Chris Ayers laments that Cruise “is turning into a kind of 21st Century David Hasselhoff, only cheesier.” And that he is “a product of a different age…[and] is going the way of Schwarzenegger.” Joking that it’s lucky “that he is more interested in religion than politics.”

The Washington Post observed, “Funny how things change. Today, Cruise is kind of a wacky entity…He’s not just an actor anymore…he’s the guy who jumped on Oprah’s couch, the guy who got bitchy with Matt Lauer, the guy who criticized Brooke Shields for using antidepressants to help with postpartum depression. He’s also the guy who bought his own sonogram machine.”

Post celebrity watcher Liz Kelly asks, “Does Tom Cruise’s hype help or hurt ‘Mission: Impossible III’ at the box office?”

It might also be said that the Cruise franchise itself hasn’t been doing that good for about a decade.

When was the last time Tom Cruise had a genuine “hit,”  domestically that is?

“War of the Worlds” made more money overseas than within the US and barely recouped its production and advertising  costs stateside.

Rumor has it that Steven Speilberg wasn’t at all happy about the way his star mishandled the movie’s promotion, which focused more attention on Scientology than the Sci-fi film.

Eyes Wide Shut, Magnolia, Mission Impossible II, Vanilla Sky, Minority Report, The Last Samurai and Collateral were arguably all domestically disappointing.

A frequent formula cited in Hollywood is that a film should take in double its budget domestically, including production and advertising costs, to be considered an unqualified “hit.”

Based upon that simple test Tom Cruise hasn’t had a hit movie in ten years, since Jerry McGuire.

Remember the “King of Pop” Michael Jackson?

“The Gloved One” was once a hit maker, but the public got tired of his weirdness and he became “History.”

Maybe Jackson and Cruise have more in common than rumors about their sexuality and the decision to make a Scientologist their first wife.

Box office numbers are the bottom line in Hollywood, and its time for Tom Cruise to deliver, or be labeled a dinosaur.  

And given the bloated budget of his latest movie and all his bad press this may be hard to do.

Perhaps in the end Cruise will be remembered more as a product of Scientology than Hollywood.

Unlike fellow Scientologist Tom Cruise, commentator Greta Van Susteren knows when to keep her mouth shut. The lawyer and top rated Fox News host says; “I don’t discuss religion, sex or money” reports the Palm Beach Post.

The religion Tom Cruise can’t seem to shut up about isn’t a subject the savvy Van Susteren allowed during her interview for Cox News Service.

The 51-year-old newswoman and long-time Scientologist is the daughter of a Wisconsin judge that once helped get Senator Joseph McCarthy elected, the originator of “McCathryism.”

The judge’s daughter graduated from Georgetown and describes herself as a “liberal.”

Van Susteren’s husband of almost twenty years John Coale is also a Scientologist and was once his wife’s law partner.

As CultNews reported some time ago when Coale and Van Susteren worked as legal team they at times were busy busting Scientology’s perceived enemies.

Scientology critic Tilman Hauser has a Web site with specific information about the historical connections between Van Susteren and Scientology.

Hauser discloses the following:

• The St. Petersburg Times reports about Greta & John, the High profile couple never pairs church and state  
• The National Law Journal details John Coale’s failed RITALIN litigation: Ritalin Class Actions: Fast Start, Big Stumble  
• According to lawyer Graham Berry, Greta Van Susteren helped convince CNN to cancel an exposé about the Scientology front Applied Scholastics.  
• Greta and her husband John P. Coale invested in Ponzi scam run by Scientologist Reed Slatkin; they invested $2.1 million, but got back $2.7 million according to report by the court-appointed trustee. When told that even innocent participants in a Ponzi scheme must legally return profits, John Coale said: “I’ll fight this thing for 100 years” because “Most of that money went to the IRS.” (The Los Angeles Times 2001). 
• After “Heaven’s Gate” cult suicide, Greta discussed suing the drug company that manufactured pills the cultists used to kill themselves.   

Shades of Tom Cruise and his crusade against psychiatric drugs?

But don’t expect to see this Scientology story in the mainstream media because the Fox News Queen seems to have gotten a pass from reporters, maybe because she is one.  

The power team of Van Susteren & Coale has moved on to much more lucrative things.

Coale helped to negotiate the $386 billion tobacco settlement in 1997.

And Van Susteren launched her career through the William Kennedy Smith rape trial on CNN, though in 2002 she dumped that network to join Fox.

“Greta’s probably the country’s best-known attorney,” Fox’s senior vice president of programming told the Post.

But once upon a time not that long ago Van Susteren was a just another lawyer religiously working for the church she now shrewdly doesn’t want to talk about.

Carol Allen, a Los Angeles “relationship coach” that is often a guest on Doug Stephan’s Good Day Radio Show, apparently learned her trade largely from a controversial “love guru” with no credentials in marriage and family counseling.

Allen says she “spent two years participating in programs of The Sterling Institute of Relationship, where she studied the inherent differences between men and women and how to make the most of all personal and professional dynamics” according to her recent press release.

The founder of the institute Allen attended is Justin Sterling, once known as Arthur “Artie” Kasarjian.

Details Magazine described “Artie” as a “love guru” that “advises his rabid following that a little less sensitivity and a lot more knuckle scraping make for real ladies’ man…Sterling is the gonzo guru who…appears before his followers in work shirts and black jeans, his belly protruding over a metal motorcycle belt.”

Doesn’t this sound more like a bad lounge act in Vegas as opposed to a mentor for anyone seriously interested in becoming a “relationship coach”? 

Sterling’s underlying philosophy can be summed up as essentially, “Society was screwed up because women have become masculine and competitive and men have become feminized.”

Here are a couple of “hot tips” from the “love guru” that Ms. Allen spent two years learning from. “Men should never discuss feelings with women.”

“Women are 100% responsible for the relationship.”

Is this the kind of coaching that will lead to a successful marriage?

FYI–Sterling’s first marriage ended in divorce, and it was apparently a very bitter and messy one.

Who else has Carol Allen sought input from?

She has “also looked closely at the work of relationship experts such as…John Gray [and]…Barbara De Angeles.

CultNews previously reported these two “experts” that have used the title of “doctor,” don’t have such an accredited degree. Gray and De Angeles, who were once married to each other but later divorced, offer advice without any of the official counseling credentials that couples typically expect.

Allen says she is also a “Vedic astrologer.” 

Perhaps as an “astrologer” Ms. Allen can help to explain from a planetary perspective John Gray’s book Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus?

According to drag queen “Vaginal Davis” Tom Cruise “is a closeted homosexual.” Davis offered this observation and more during a performance at Ohio University to celebrate “Gay Pride Week.”

A slice of Vaginal Davis’s scheduled program before OU students included a picture montage titled “Tom Cruise Loves Women.”

However, this was seemingly meant to be a kind of oxymoron as the “tall, muscular African-American drag queen” narrated his presentation in a “sugary, hyper-feminine voice.”

“Davis mocked the Hollywood star for his pretentious attitude toward psychiatry and prescription drugs (fueled by Scientology), and because, she asserted, he is a closeted homosexual” reported The Athens News.

According to his/her Web site (http://www.vaginaldavis.com/), Davis has dubbed himself a “terrorist drag.” And it appears that this drag queen is a bit of a “bomb thrower” and has done something even South Park was not prepared to do, which is to make a simple declarative statement that Tom Cruise “is a homosexual.”

Instead of using a suggestive humorous situation as South Park did with the actor supposedly “Trapped in the Closet,” Vaginal Davis instead reportedly flatly stated that the actor “is a closeted homosexual.”

Does this mean Mr. Cruise will call up his famous pit bull lawyer Bert Fields to come in and take down the drag queen?

Maybe Mr. Fields is a little too preoccupied these days with his own problems. The Los Angeles lawyer keeps popping up as a name linked to a federal wiretapping investigation of his one-time associate private detective Anthony Pellicano reported Slate Magazine.

Gone are the glory days when a dynamic duo flanked Tom Cruise for his protection.

On one side the star had uber publicist Pat Kingsley, today spokeswoman for Brooke Shields, as his intimidating gatekeeper. On the other flank was Fields as his legal heavyweight ready to take on any tabloid considering a less than “Tom Terrific” story.

As CultNews recently noted it seems that times have changed so much for Tom Cruise, his fellow Scientologists may have rather pathetically attempted to rig a Parade Magazine poll to make him look good.

Scinetology’s “Top Gun” has gone from Hollywood’s leading man to the punch line of party jokes. And “jump the couch” might replace “jump the shark” as the popular expression to denote when someone has gone too far.

Perhaps it’s somehow poetic justice that Vaginal Davis “clad in a dirty blonde wig, lacy black negligee and ballet slippers” is now making the “world’s greatest movie star” the butt of jokes?

Now that Katie Holmes has given birth to baby “Suri,” what will the future be like for the Cruise child? 

One thing seems sure, there will be only one religion honored in the Cruise household and that is Scientology.

Asked if their baby would be given a traditional Catholic baptism, Cruise who himself was raised Catholic and once considered becoming a priest said, “You can be Catholic and a Scientologist…But we’re just Scientologists,” reported the Washington Post.

Cruise claims the Holmes family “approve of Scientology.”

But it seems the star might be sending a message to Katie’s parents in Toledo, which is essentially that there will be no middle ground regarding religion around his firstborn biological offspring.

Ms. Holmes’ parents are reportedly upset.

A long-time friend of the  family says, “I can’t imagine what her parents are going through right now. She really needs to get that baby baptized in the Catholic church,” reported Starpulse News Blog. 

Apparently, this isn’t the first time Tom Cruise has had differences over Catholicism.

A “persistent rumor” is that Nicole Kidman wanted to bring up her children Catholic, and that this and her continuing criticism of Scientology caused “problems in her marriage,” reports Fashion Monitor of Toronto.

As CultNews reported last year Scientology’s “Top Gun” has already undertaken the religious indoctrination of his two children adopted during his second marriage to Kidman, Isabella and Conner Cruise, despite an alleged understanding the couple may have had through joint custody.

“Bella Cruise,” the eldest of the two children, completed the “Basic Study Manual” of Scientology last year at age 12.

Kidman congratulated Katie Holmes in a statement made through her publicist, wishing the 27-year-old new mother and her baby well, but offered no comment to 43-year-old Tom Cruise.

The Oscar-winning actress is now a practicing Catholic.

One report claims Cruise is taking no chances on Katie Holmes and has already demanded sole custody of their only child in case they break up.

Holmes remains an unwed mother to date; though the couple supposedly plans to marry soon.

Is it possible that her conservative Catholic parents “approve” of this too?

Out of the womb and into the world baby Suri will soon be exposed to Scientology’s “sacred science,” and not the Seven Sacraments. 

Scientologists live by the book, as written by founder L. Ron Hubbard. It is his writings that form the basis of both their mindset and the foundation for almost everything they do, from “silent birth” to the very meaning of life.

In the beginning there was Hubbard, and Hubbard largely began his new religion with the book “Scientology: the Fundamentals of Thought.” According to the author this is the “basic book of theory and practice of Scientology.”

Excerpts of Scientology’s primer can be found at the Web site of Canadian Caroline Letkeman.

Hubbard wrote, “Equipped with this book alone the student of the mind could begin a practice and perform seeming miracles in changing the states of health, ability and intelligence of people.”

He boasts that his book is “a summation, if brief, of the results of 50,000 years of thinking men.”

Hubbard states that “Scientology is actually a new but very basic psychology in the most exact meaning of the word. It can and does change behavior and intelligence, and it can and does assist people to study life.” And it “improves the health, intelligence, ability, behavior, skill and appearance of people…It is a precise and exact science, designed for an age of exact sciences.”

“Basic psychology”?

Didn’t Tom Cruise call psychology and psychiatry “pseudo-science”?

Never mind.

Hubbard’s far reaching and all encompassing claims dominate the life of Tom Cruise and there is no doubt that the “world’s greatest movie star” intends for them to do the same for baby Suri.

It seems that less and less attention is being paid to the so-called “Kabbalah Centre” lately as the media spotlight has shifted to focus on Scientology instead.

A couple of years ago reporters were buzzing about the Hollywood’s latest craze and it wasn’t Tom Cruise.

But Speilberg’s star turned the public’s attention from “War of the Worlds” to his war of words, defending Scientology and attacking Brooke Shields, psychiatry and the use of anti-depressants.

Scientology’s “Top Gun” successfully restored his church to its former prominence as the most talked about so-called “cult” in Hollywood.

Instead of the media attempting to decipher Madonna’s latest mystical allusion, reporters breathlessly awaited the birth of baby Cruise as if it were the “Second Coming” of the “Christ child.”

Madonna doesn’t seem to have the same magic.

That may be why the former pop queen has gone from Kabbalah references to using a “disco-fied crucifix” for an entrance at her upcoming concerts.

It is rumored that the 47-year-old 1980s diva will be lowered from the ceiling hanging on what has been reported variously as a “disco ball,” or “cross-like disco ball” or “disco-fied crucifix” to be used for her dramatic entrance on a coming concert tour reports Inside Entertainment.

Will Madonna somehow be symbolically crucified amidst blinding light?

Has the “Material Girl” left “Jewish mysticism” to return to her Catholic roots?

Well, at least to grab some attention for publicity purposes and sell tickets.

The cost of this glitter was estimated at $10 million.

Meanwhile Scientology’s return to its former top “cult” status may actually be good news for Philip and Karen Berg, Madonna’s spiritual mentors.

Before Scientology’s “Top Gun” started blasting his way through interviews the Bergs were wounded repeatedly through in-depth news reports. Radar Magazine ran a critical series about the organization’s finances and the British press was relentless, such as articles run by The Guardian.  

But now with such intense attention being focused on Scientology, its leading man and Katie Holmes, the press seems somewhat indifferent about the Kabbalah Centre, whether Madonna calls herself “Esther,” or clings to a multi-million dollar “cross-like” prop. 

CultNews has previously reported about the Apostolic Faith Church, often called a “cult,” in Jefferson, Ohio led by Charles Keyes, a man many see as an “evil” influence over his followers.

“Evil is the only word that comes to my mind,” declared a Virginia judge who subsequently ordered that four children be removed from their mother’s custody due to her involvement with the Keyes church.

Carolyn Clark the mother of 13, once loyal to Keyes, was the first of his flock to publicly repudiate him.

But her husband remained a fervent and devoted follower.

After losing custody of the couple’s eight minor children Ralph Clark beat his wife Carolyn to death.

He is now serving a life sentence in an Ohio prison.

More than 20 minor children have been removed from the church that Keyes rules over like a virtual dictator.

Accusations of “brainwashing,” exploitation and illegal child labor have been leveled against the man whose disciples have called him “Christ Charles.”

However, unlike Jesus who rode into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey, Keyes prefers his pearl white Cadilac, with custom plates that read “Bishop K,” reflecting his self-proclaimed title of “Bishop Keyes.” 

And CultNews has learned that the “Bishop” has apparently just recently purchased a Mercedes, valued at more than $50,000.00. It seems that a Cadilac just wasn’t enough for this allegedly anointed “man of God.”

Keyes’ faithful followers have at times lost homes and cars rather than refuse the financial demands of their leader.

The notorious preacher took over Apostolic Faith Church after his father Oree Keyes, who legitimately held the title of Bishop within a small denomination of Pentecostal churches, became ill. But since that time the denomination that respected the father has thrown out his son.

Keyes’ church includes about 200 members, many of them minor children.

Some of those children have been subjected to brutal beatings by so-called “deliverance teams.”

A 7-year-old boy was held underwater in a bathtub and later left tied up alone in the church overnight supposedly to break him of bad behavior. The child was later removed by protective services.

Katie Lane, a caseworker for the Ashtabula County Children Services Board specifically assigned to handle cases concerning the Keyes church told a Virginia court during a custody hearing, “I don’t believe any children should be there.”

Increasingly unpopular in Ashtabula Keyes has apparently moved out of his long-time home and leased a condo at “Geneva on the Lake.”

Sources have told CultNews that as many as 15 people at times occupy the two-bedroom 1,500 square foot condominium.

Many women come in and out of Keyes rented residence and the cars of his disciples are parked nearby.

Witnesses have told CultNews that Keyes has been known to have multiple women sleep with him, while devoted female followers lay strewn around his bed on the floor through the night.

Is this what Keyes is up to at his new Lake Geneva digs?

Meanwhile his neighbors may wonder how a two-bedroom condo can physically and/or legally accommodate so many people?

Certainly this doesn’t seem to be “Christ-like” conduct for a supposed “man of God,” but rather reflects the continued bad behavior, which has generated more than a little bad press for the profligate preacher.

Note: Since this article appeared self-proclaimed “Bishop” Charles Keyes and his crew has moved out of their condominium rental. On May 11th Keyes followers loaded up a U-Haul and left for parts unknown. A few days earlier the black Mercedes, driven by the “bishop,” was gone. Apparently, Keyes had already departed before his faithful began packing. The Mercedes S-500 luxury sedan now has a personalized Ohio license plate that reads “1BISHOP.”

Air America Radio talk show host Janeanne Garofalo of “Majority Report” was seemingly taken in by a Scientology-linked project selling a “detoxification” cure invented by the church’s founder L. Ron Hubbard.

Apparently, Garofalo either didn’t understand or didn’t care about the often-reported links between the privately-funded “New York Rescue Workers Detoxification Project” touted on her Friday night show and Scientology.

CultNews began reporting about the Scientology-linked project more than two years ago and the story was later picked up by the New York Times and Associated Press.

The so-called “Purification Rundown,” which is a Scientology religious ritual, is at the heart of the program. Hubbard invented the process, which includes large dosing of niacin, sweating in a sauna and ingesting cooking oil. 

The Fireman’s Union ultimately dumped the project and the chief medical officer for FDNY Dr. Kerry Kelly said, “The essence of their program is you stay in it until you suddenly wake up and say, “I feel great.’ It’s hard to have faith in a program like that.”

Kelly concluded that there is no “objective evidence” to support the claims made by the project.

The usually sharp, well informed and at times cynical Garofalo is typically more skeptical. But she did the Friday night show without her Internet savvy researcher/wingman Sam Seder.

CultNews has witnessed firsthand as a guest on “Majority Report” how this team works with Seder hovering over his laptop grabbing information through the Internet while Garofalo gets in the zingers.

Janeanne Garofalo’s guest was Scientologist Leah Remini, star of “King of Queens,” a supporter of the New York detox project. She brought along Jim Woodworth, a “certified chemical dependency counselor” and Joe Higgins a “retired firefighter.”

CultNews reported in 2003 that Woodworth ran HealthMed of California, which like the “New York Rescue Workers Detoxification Project” has a history of controversy.

Doctors at the California Department of Health Services accused HealthMed of making “false medical claims” and of “taking advantage of the fears of workers and the public about toxic chemicals and their potential health effects, including cancer.”

Is Woodworth trying to do the same thing in New York?

Joseph Higgins, the former firefighter that Remini brought along is a paid member of the controversial clinic’s advisory board associated with Woodworth in New York.

A listener told CultNews that it seems Ms. Garofalo had actually visited the Scientology-linked detox facility. And that there was something more or less said that “if it works, it works.” 

Well, it doesn’t seem to work according to the chief medical doctor at the FDNY. 

The same listener said that only “near the end” and “somewhat reluctantly” was there any mention of possible links to Scientology and/or L. Ron Hubbard its founder.

Garofalo closed her show repeating the Web site address “newyorkdetox.org,” which is incorrect. The correct address is actually “nydetox.org.”

Scientology frequently uses its celebrities to get media time for essentially what can be seen as an infomercial promoting its programs, services, and of course its founder the late L. Ron Hubbard.

CultNews previously reported how TV talk show host Montel Williams was beguiled by Scientology celebs Juliette Lewis, Anne Archer, Catherine Bell and Kelly Preston (Mrs. John Travolta). Williams consumed two of his hour-long program slots promoting celebrity Scientology-linked projects. 

But of all people has the seemingly cynical Janeanne Garofalo now been bitten by the celeb bug and followed in Montel’s footsteps?

CultNews previously reported within “Scientology’s top tin tips for having kids” that Tom Cruise bought his girlfriend Katie Holmes an MP3 player packed with her favorite tunes to apparently pacify the actress during childbirth, now it seems he has decided to pick up the real thing too, an actual “adult pacifier.”

And all this appears to have been done to keep within the divine guidelines dictated by Scientology’s founder L. Ron Hubbard, for what Scientologists call “silent birth.”

“The alleged pacifier, which is reportedly made of plastic and molded to perfectly fit the 27-year-old Katie’s mouth, could be deployed very soon,” reports the New York Daily News.

Apparently the thinking is that Ms. Holmes will be so preoccupied with jamming and sucking on her big “binky” that she’ll forget about the baby.

Perhaps the pacifier is a fitting symbol of the child-like dependence the actress has developed, both on Cruise and his controversial church.

David Hinkley observed within the New York Daily News that Tom Cruise doesn’t discourage  the “speculation that whether Katie Holmes asked or not, he feels his Scientology-based thinking is plenty for both of them.”

But would it be a “mission impossible” for the girl to get a little epidural?

“The Church has no policy against the use of medicines to help a person with a physical situation. This, too, is up to the mother and her doctor,” says Scientology through a recent release from the official newsroom.

Though this just might be an example of Scientology carefully parsing its language for media consumption.

The release doesn’t specifically state that “painkillers” would be an option for Holmes’ doctor, only “the use of medicines,” whatever that means.

However, this may provide enough wiggle room for an epidural, if it’s needed.

No matter how soothing the music is coming out of her MP3 player, the baby coming out might just make Katie swallow her pacifier.

Scientology may be moving in on the Mayor of San Francisco. 

Scientologist John Travolta and the Mayor Gavin Newsom will be “exchanging gifts” at a Quantas Air promotional event tonight reports SFist.

John Travolta is a pretty good proselytizer, he once recruited Elvis’s ex Priscilla Presley for the controversial church, has he now set his sights on the mayor by the Bay?

Newsom’s new girlfriend Sophia Milos, star of CSI Miami, is also a Scientologist.

So is Scientology triangulating or is this just a coincidence?

Will the two Scientologists become a tag team to take down the mayor for their hero L. Ron Hubbard?

Meanwhile the supposedly savvy politician should know that Scientology continues to be the butt of jokes on TV.

The “gloves are off in a take-off on the Scientology/Kabbalah wave among the celebs” at Tori Spelling’s new VH1 series “So Notorious” reports Linda Stassi for the New York Post.

In the second episode the former “90210” teen’s boyfriend belongs to a cult that “recruits rich celebs and gay stars and hooks them up with hot women.” And there is “no doubt just who and what Tori and Co. are poking fun at” says Stassi.

Alluding to Scientology and Tom Cruise’s alleged showdown with South Park the Post writer ponders whether or not this episode be pulled?

Hey, wasn’t star John Travolta rumored to be gay, until he hooked up with hot Kelly Preston?

And it seems that there is also hope for a divorced mayor to find “hot women” amongst the Scientology faithful.

Mayor Newsom may be hooked, but at what cost to his political career?

It’s obvious what he sees in Sophia Milos, but is affection the only thing she wants fom Gavin Newsom, or is there something else the actress expects for Scientology?