OMG, it's OT

The Church of Scientology has once again proved how totally clueless it is in squashing PR problems in the digital age.
Earlier this year, it tried to get a video of Tom Cruise removed from the Net by threatening website operators. That failed miserably, and now that hilarious video is widely available on YouTube and elsewhere.
Now there's news that the cult has threatened legal action against Wikileaks, repository for numerous leaked Scientology documents. The cult says the site is violating copyright laws.
I've been following this with interest, partly because I reviewed Andrew Morton's Cruise bio in February.
I'm between assignments right now, so I've had a little time to look over some of the leaked documents. In particular, the 600 pages of OT-level training papers. OT stands for Operating Thetan. It's the upper reaches of a Scientologist's odyssey, after "clearing" the mind of such impediments as critical thinking and common sense.
The papers start off with some amusing irony in a poem by Scientology founder L.R. Hubbard: "You won't always be here/ But before you go,/ Whisper this to your sons/ And their sons:/ The work was free. / Keep it so."
The cult's 'work' is not free at all. OT-7 level training alone costs $75,000. (OT-7 is Cruise's level. And it's ridiculous, as you can see by an ex-Scientologist's explanation of OT-7 training.)
The highlight of the 600 pages is at the OT-3 level, when the Xenu story is explained, in Hubbard's own handwriting. The Xenu story is held back from Scientology recruits until they've reached OT-3. By then, I guess, they've fallen far enough into the cult that they'll believe almost anything it tells them.
Hubbard, the deranged crook, writes that "75,000,000 years ago on this planet," which was then called Teegeeack, evil galactic overlord Xenu blew up space aliens at various volcanoes. Seriously.
On page 294, there's a list of volcanoes where space aliens were destroyed.
Some people really believe this stuff.
The best thing about Scientology's threatening missive to Wikileaks is that the cult is confirming the documents as authentic. How else could it sue for copyright infringement?
And by confirming the documents' authenticity, the cult has admitted that the Xenu story wasn't made up by outsiders to discredit the cult and continues to have a place in the "religion" of Scientology.
The cult has, in short, discredited itself. Again.