title: Anti-clericalism

text: The Mexican Constitution of 1824 had required the Republic to prohibit the exercise of any religion other than the Roman Catholic and Apostolic faith.


title: Anti-clericalism

text: Starting in 1855, President Benito Juárez issued decrees nationalizing church property, separating church and state, and suppressing religious orders. Church properties were confiscated and basic civil and political rights were denied to religious orders and the clergy.


title: Anti-clericalism

text: More severe laws called Calles Law during the rule of Plutarco Elías Calles eventually led to the Cristero War, an armed peasant rebellion against the Mexican government supported by the Catholic Church.


title: Anti-clericalism

text: Following the Mexican Revolution of 1910, the new Mexican Constitution of 1917 contained further anti-clerical provisions. Article 3 called for secular education in the schools and prohibited the Church from engaging in primary education; Article 5 outlawed monastic orders; Article 24 forbade public worship outside the confines of churches; and Article 27 placed restrictions on the right of religious organizations to hold property. Article 130 deprived clergy members of basic political rights. Many of these laws were resisted, leading to the Cristero Rebellion of 1927–1929. The suppression of the Church included the closing of many churches and the killing of priests. The persecution was most severe in Tabasco under the atheist" governor Tomás Garrido Canabal.


title: Anti-clericalism

text: The church-supported armed rebellion only escalated the violence. US Diplomat Dwight Morrow was brought in to mediate the conflict. But 1928 saw the assassination of President Alvaro Obregón by Catholic radical José de León Toral, gravely damaging the peace process.


title: Anti-clericalism

text: The war had a profound effect on the Church. Between 1926 and 1934 at least 40 priests were killed. Between 1926 and 1934, over 3,000 priests were exiled or assassinated.


title: Anti-clericalism

text: Where 4,500 priests served the people before the rebellion, in 1934 there were only 334 priests licensed by the government to serve fifteen million people, the rest having been eliminated by emigration, expulsion and assassination. It appears that ten states were left without any priests.


title: Anti-clericalism

text: The Cristero rebels committed their share of violence, which continued even after formal hostilities had ended. In some of the worst cases, public school teachers were tortured and murdered by the former Cristero rebels. It is calculated that almost 300 rural teachers were murdered in this way between 1935 and 1939.


title: Anti-clericalism

text: This issue was one of the bases for the lasting dispute between Conservatives, who represented primarily the interests of the Sierra and the church, and the Liberals, who represented those of the Costa and anti-clericalism. Tensions came to a head in 1875 when the conservative President Gabriel García Moreno, after being elected to his third term, was allegedly assassinated by anti-clerical Freemasons.


title: Anti-clericalism

text: Colombia enacted anti-clerical legislation and its enforcement during more than three decades (1849–84).


title: Anti-clericalism

text: La Violencia refers to an era of civil conflict in various areas of the Colombian countryside between supporters of the Colombian Liberal Party and the Colombian Conservative Party, a conflict which took place roughly from 1948 to 1958.


title: Anti-clericalism

text: Across the country, militants attacked churches, convents, and monasteries, killing priests and looking for arms, since the conspiracy theory maintained that the religious had guns, and this despite the fact that not a single serviceable weapon was located in the raids.


title: Anti-clericalism

text: When their party came to power in 1930, anti-clerical Liberals pushed for legislation to end Church influence in public schools. These Liberals held that the Church and its intellectual backwardness were responsible for a lack of spiritual and material progress in Colombia. Liberal-controlled local, departmental and national governments ended contracts with religious communities who operated schools in government-owned buildings, and set up secular schools in their place. These actions were sometimes violent, and were met by a strong opposition from clerics, Conservatives, and even a good number of more moderate Liberals.


title: Anti-clericalism

text: The original Argentine Constitution of 1853 provided that all Argentine presidents must be Catholic and stated that the duty of the Argentine congress was to convert the Indians to Catholicism. All of these provisions have been eliminated with the exception of the mandate to "sustain" Catholicism.


title: Anti-clericalism

text: Liberal anti-clericalists of the 1880s established a new pattern of church-state relations in which the official constitutional status of the Church was preserved while the state assumed control of many functions formerly the province of the Church. Conservative Catholics, asserting their role as definers of national values and morality, responded in part by joining in the rightist religio-political movement known as Catholic Nationalism which formed successive opposition parties. This began a prolonged period of conflict between church and state that persisted until the 1940s when the Church enjoyed a restoration of its former status under the presidency of Colonel Juan Perón. Perón claimed that Peronism was the "true embodiment of Catholic social teaching" – indeed, more the embodiment of Catholicism than the Catholic Church itself.


title: Anti-clericalism

text: In 1954, Argentina saw extensive destruction of churches, denunciations of clergy and confiscation of Catholic schools as Perón attempted to extend state control over national institutions.


title: Anti-clericalism

text: The renewed rupture in church-state relations was completed when Perón was excommunicated. However, in 1955, he was overthrown by a military general who was a leading member of the Catholic Nationalist movement.


title: Anti-clericalism

text: In Venezuela, the government of Antonio Guzmán Blanco (in office from 1870–1877, from 1879–1884, and from 1886–1887) virtually crushed the institutional life of the church, even attempting to legalize the marriage of priests. These anti-clerical policies remained in force for decades afterward.


title: Anti-clericalism

text: Cuba, under the rule of atheist Fidel Castro, succeeded in reducing the Church's ability to work by deporting the archbishop and 150 Spanish priests, by discriminating against Catholics in public life and education and by refusing to accept them as members of the Communist Party. The subsequent flight of 300,000 people from the island also helped to diminish the Church there.


title: Anti-clericalism

text: In the Soviet Union, anti-clericalism was expressed through the state; in the first five years alone after the Bolshevik revolution, 28 bishops and 1,200 priests were executed.


title: Anti-clericalism

text: During the fall of Suharto in 1998, a witch hunt in Banyuwangi against alleged sorcerers spiraled into widespread riots and violence. In addition to alleged sorcerers, Islamic clerics were also targeted and killed, Nahdlatul Ulama members were murdered by rioters.


title: Anti-clericalism

text: During the first democratic revolution of Asia, the Iranian Constitutional Revolution, the Shia Marja Akhund Khurasani and his colleagues theorized a model of religious secularity in the absence of Imam, that still prevails in Shia seminaries. In absence of the ideal ruler, that is Imam al-Mahdi, democracy was the best available option. He considers opposition to constitutional democracy as hostility towards the twelfth Imam. He declared his full support for constitutional democracy and announced that objection to "foundations of constitutionalism" was un-Islamic. According to Akhund, "a rightful religion imposes conditions on the actions and behavior of human beings", which stem from either holy text or logical reasoning, and these constraints are essentially meant to prevent despotism. He believes that an Islamic system of governance can not be established without the infallible Imam leading it. Thus the clergy and modern scholars have concluded that a proper legislation can help reduce the state tyranny and maintain peace and security. He said:


title: Anti-clericalism

text: As "sanctioned by sacred law and religion", Akhund believes, a theocratic government can only be formed by the infallible Imam. Aqa Buzurg Tehrani also quoted Akhund Khurasani saying that if there was a possibility of establishment of a truly legitimate Islamic rule in any age, God must end occultation of the Imam of Age. Hence, he refuted the idea of absolute guardianship of jurist. Therefore, according to Akhund, Shia jurists must support the democratic reform. He prefers collective wisdom () over individual opinions, and limits the role of jurist to provide religious guidance in personal affairs of a believer. He defines democracy as a system of governance that enforces a set of "limitations and conditions" on the head of state and government employees so that they work within "boundaries that the laws and religion of every nation determines". Akhund believes that modern secular laws complement traditional religion. He asserts that both religious rulings and the laws outside the scope of religion confront "state despotism". Constitutionalism is based on the idea of defending the "nation's inherent and natural liberties", and as absolute power corrupts, a democratic distribution of power would make it possible for the nation to live up to its full potential.


title: Anti-clericalism

text: In 1925, Rezā Khan proclaimed himself shah of the country. As part of his Westernization program, the traditional role of the ruling clergy was minimized; Islamic schools were secularized, women were forbidden to wear the hijab, sharia law was abolished, and men and women were desegregated in educational and religious environments. All this infuriated the ultraconservative clergy as a class. Rezā Khan's son and heir Mohammad Reza Pahlavi continued such practices. They ultimately contributed to the Islamic Revolution of 1978–79, and the Shah's flight from his country.


title: Anti-clericalism

text: When Ayatollah Khomeini took power a month after the revolution, the Shah's anti-clerical measures were largely overturned, replaced by an Islamic Republic based on the principle of rule by Islamic jurists, , where clerics serve as heads of state and hold many powerful governmental positions. However, by the late 1990s and 2000s, anti-clericalism was reported to be significant in the Islamic Republic of Iran.


title: Anti-clericalism

text: Demonstrators using slogans such as "The clerics live like kings while we live in poverty!" One report claims "Working-class Iranian lamented clerical wealth in the face of their own poverty," and "stories about Swiss bank accounts of leading clerics circulated on Tehran's rumor mill."


title: Anti-clericalism

text: According to the 1913 "Catholic Encyclopedia", Freemasonry was historically viewed by the Catholic Church as being a principal source of anti-Clericalism – especially in, but not limited to, historically Catholic countries.


title: Deconstructing Harry

text: Deconstructing Harry is a 1997 American black comedy film written, directed by, and co-starring Woody Allen, alongside Caroline Aaron, Kirstie Alley, Bob Balaban, Richard Benjamin, Eric Bogosian, Billy Crystal, Judy Davis and others. The film tells the story of a successful writer named Harry Block, played by Allen, who draws inspiration from people he knows in real life, and from events that happen to him, sometimes causing these people to become alienated from him as a result.


title: Deconstructing Harry

text: The central plot features Block driving to a university from which he was once thrown out, in order to receive an honorary degree. Three passengers accompany him on the journey: a prostitute, a friend, and his son, whom he has kidnapped from his ex-wife. However, there are many flashbacks, segments taken from Block's writing, and interactions with his own fictional characters. "Deconstructing Harry" received moderately positive reviews from critics.


title: Deconstructing Harry

text: One night, Lucy gets a taxi to the home of author Harry Block. She has just read Harry's latest novel. In the novel, the character Leslie is having an affair with her sister's husband Ken. Lucy is angry because the novel is patently based on her and Harry's own affair; as a result, everyone knows about it. Lucy pulls a gun out of her purse, saying she will kill herself. She then turns the gun on Harry and begins firing. She chases him out onto the roof. Harry insists that he has already been punished: his latest girlfriend Fay has left him for his best friend Larry. To distract Lucy, Harry tells her a story he is currently writing: a semi-autobiographical story of a sex-obsessed young man named Harvey who is mistakenly claimed by Death.


title: Deconstructing Harry

text: In therapy, Harry realizes he has not changed since he was a sex-obsessed youth. Harry discusses the honoring ceremony at his old university, taking place the next day; he is particularly unhappy that he has nobody with whom to share the occasion. After the session, Harry asks his ex-wife Joan if he can take their son Hilliard to the ceremony. She refuses, stating that Harry is a bad influence on Hilliard. She is also furious at Harry for the novel he wrote. In it, the character Epstein marries Helen, but the marriage begins to crumble after the birth of their son.


title: Deconstructing Harry

text: Harry runs into an acquaintance, Richard, who is worried about his health. After accompanying Richard to the hospital, Harry asks him to come to the university ceremony. Richard appears uninterested. Harry then goes to meet his ex-girlfriend Fay, who reveals that she is now engaged. Harry begs Fay to get back together with him. He asks Fay to accompany him to his ceremony, but it clashes with Fay's wedding, scheduled the following day.


title: Deconstructing Harry

text: That night, Harry sleeps with a prostitute, Cookie. Harry then asks Cookie to accompany him to his ceremony.


title: Deconstructing Harry

text: In the morning, Richard unexpectedly arrives to join Harry and Cookie on the journey. On a whim, Harry decides to "kidnap" his son Hilliard. Along the way, they stop at a carnival, then at Harry's half-sister Doris's. Doris, a devoted Jew, is upset by Harry's portrayals of Judaism in his stories, as is her husband. During the journey, Harry also encounters his fictional creations Ken and Helen, who force him to confront some painful truths about his life. Just before arriving at the university, Richard dies peacefully in the car.


title: Deconstructing Harry

text: While filming, Harry's fictional alter ego, Mel literally slides out of focus, becoming blurred. The university's staffers gush over Harry, asking what he plans to write next. He describes a story about a man (based on himself) who journeys down to Hell to reclaim his true love (based on Fay) from the Devil (based on Larry). Harry and the Devil engage in a verbal duel as to who is truly the more evil of the two. Harry gets as far as arguing that he is a kidnapper before the story is interrupted by the arrival of the police. Harry is arrested for kidnapping Hilliard, for possessing a gun (it was Lucy's), and for having drugs in the car (belonging to Cookie).


title: Deconstructing Harry

text: Larry and Fay come from their wedding to bail Harry out of jail. Harry reluctantly gives them his blessings. Back at his apartment, a miserable Harry fantasizes that the university's ceremony is taking place. The film ends with Harry getting over his writer's block by starting to write a book about a man who, like him, can only function in art, not in his life.


title: Deconstructing Harry

text: Woody Allen offered the role of Harry Block to Elliott Gould, Dustin Hoffman, Dennis Hopper and Albert Brooks, all of whom turned it down. Allen took the role himself.


title: Deconstructing Harry

text: "Deconstructing Harry" garnered a 73% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes from 37 reviews and a 61 out of 100 on Metacritic.


title: Deconstructing Harry

text: Woody Allen was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen. The film was nominated for the Satellite Award for Best Motion Picture — Comedy or Musical.


title: Deconstructing Harry

text: The film is a general reworking of his earlier 1980 film "Stardust Memories", which also had an artist go to a ceremony in his honor, while reminiscing over past relationships and trying to fix and stabilize current ones.


title: Deconstructing Harry

text: Allen is an admirer of several renowned European directors, and his films in particular often draw upon the works of Ingmar Bergman and Federico Fellini. The rough outline of the plot of "Deconstructing Harry", that of an academic on a long drive to receive an honorary award from his old university while reflecting upon his life's experiences, essentially mirrors that of Bergman's "Wild Strawberries". Also, the film is similar to Fellini's "8½", in that it is about an artist struggling with his current relationships and remembering his old ones, interspersed with dream sequences, as well as his work being based on events from his life.


title: Deconstructing Harry

text: It is acknowledged by some critics that Allen based the name of Harry Block on Antonius Block (Max von Sydow), the protagonist from Bergman's "The Seventh Seal". Some critics, including Roger Ebert, have suggested that the character of Harry Block is based on real-life author Philip Roth and not on Allen himself.


title: The Easybeats

text: The Easybeats were an Australian rock band that formed in Sydney in late 1964. They enjoyed a level of success that in Australia rivalled The Beatles. They became the first Australian rock act to score an international hit, with the 1966 single "Friday on My Mind", as well as one of the few in Australia to foreground their original material.


title: The Easybeats

text: During their six-year run, they scored 15 top 40 hits in Australia, including "She's So Fine" and "Women (Make You Feel Alright)", with other No. 1 hits including "Friday on My Mind" and "Sorry". They broke up in 1969, and reformed for one tour in 1986. Singer Stevie Wright died in 2015 and rhythm guitarist George Young died in 2017.


title: The Easybeats

text: All five founder members were from families that had migrated to Australia from Europe: lead singer Stevie Wright and drummer Gordon "Snowy" Fleet were English-born; rhythm guitarist George Young was Scottish-born; lead guitarist Harry Vanda and bassist Dick Diamonde were Dutch-born. The band formed at the Villawood Migrant Hostel. The families of the band members spent their first years in Australia housed at the Villawood Migrant Hostel in the early and mid-sixties.


title: The Easybeats

text: The Easybeats' first gigs were in late 1964 at a music venue called Beatle Village, located in the basement of the Courthouse Hotel in Taylor Square in Darlinghurst, Sydney. The band was inspired by the "British Invasion" spearheaded by the Beatles. The Easybeats quickly rose to become one of the most popular groups in the city. Real estate agent turned pop music entrepreneur Mike Vaughan became their manager. Through his efforts, they were signed to a contract with Albert Productions, one of Australia's first independent record production companies. The company was established by Ted Albert, whose family owned J. Albert & Sons, a prominent music publishing company. Albert signed the band to a recording contract with EMI's Parlophone label. The group recorded a number of songs at the 2UW Theatre, owned by the parent company of Albert Productions, J. Albert and Son. They chose the bluesy "For My Woman" as their first single. It was picked up by Sydney radio and became a minor hit, reaching No. 33 on the charts.


title: The Easybeats

text: Although "For My Woman" gained them some attention, the band felt they needed a more uptempo song to break through commercially. Their next single, "She's So Fine", gave them that commercial success, reaching No. 3 on the Australian charts and launching them to national stardom. Their concerts and public appearances were regularly marked by intense fan hysteria similar to "Beatlemania", soon dubbed "Easyfever" by the Australian press.


title: The Easybeats

text: The band's follow-up single, the high-energy "Wedding Ring", released on 26 August 1965, was also a hit, reaching No. 7. On 23 September 1965, the group released its first album, "Easy". It was one of the earliest albums of all original material written by an Australian rock group. All the songs were written by group members, with vocalist Stevie Wright and guitarist George Young co-writing eight of the fourteen songs on the album..


title: The Easybeats

text: For the next single, "Sad and Lonely and Blue", the band returned to the blues based feel of "For My Woman". However, like "For My Woman", it failed to make the top 10, only reaching No. 21. Both "Wedding Ring" and "Sad and Lonely and Blue" were included on the group's second album, "It's 2 Easy", released 24 March 1966. The lead singles from that album, "Women (Make You Feel Alright)" and "Come and See Her", put the group back in the top 10, reaching No. 4 and No. 3 respectively on the Australian charts. This time, Stevie Wright and George Young wrote all fourteen songs on the album. The Wright-Young songwriting team also wrote songs for other artists at this time, including "Step Back", which became a No. 1 hit for Johnny Young (no relation) in 1966.


title: The Easybeats

text: In early 1966, while the group was still touring Australia, manager Mike Vaughan flew to New York City to attempt to secure an American recording contract for the band. Despite an initial lack of interest, Vaughan was able to convince United Artists Records to sign the band. Just before relocating to London in 1966, they recorded a farewell TV special for the Seven Network, titled "The Easybeats" (more commonly known as "The Coca-Cola Special"), one of the few surviving appearances from the band's career during this period. The group left for the UK on 10 July 1966.


title: The Easybeats

text: In August 1966, Albert Productions released an EP of material recorded before the group left Australia. Titled "Easyfever", it reach No. 1 on the Australian singles charts. Albert Productions then released an entire album of material titled "Volume 3" on 3 November 1966. This too was a commercial success and its lead single, "Sorry", topped the Australian charts. Again, Stevie Wright and George Young wrote all thirteen songs on the album.


title: The Easybeats

text: After arriving in London the band recorded a number of songs with Ted Albert at EMI's Abbey Road Studios, but these were deemed unsuitable by United Artists Records and Albert was removed as producer. The band was then teamed with freelance producer Shel Talmy, who had achieved great success with his production for the Who and the Kinks. United Artists also felt that the band's song writing was too "unsophisticated" for the competitive UK market. The label had already released the Wright/Young composition "Come And See Her" as a single in the UK on 15 July and it had not sold well. Dutch-born Vanda, now having a stronger grasp of English, replaced Wright as Young's song writing partner at this point.


title: The Easybeats

text: After auditioning several titles for Talmy, "Friday on My Mind" caught the producer's ear as the next single. The band recorded the song with Talmy at IBC Studios, London in September. "Friday on My Mind" was released in the UK on 14 October 1966. It reached #6 on the UK Charts making it the group's first big international hit. The song charted in multiple countries: No. 1 in Australia, No. 13 in Canada, No. 16 in the US, and the Top 10 in Germany, the Netherlands and France, and sold over one million copies worldwide. It was awarded a gold disc.


title: The Easybeats

text: On 17 March 1967, United Artists released the follow-up single to "Friday on My Mind"; "Who'll Be The One". The single was a commercial failure and did not make the UK charts (although it was No. 14 in Australia). The band was against releasing the single to begin with, as they felt it was not a strong enough track to follow "Friday on My Mind". Later that month, they toured Europe in support of The Rolling Stones.


title: The Easybeats

text: During this period, the band was filmed by Australian director Peter Clifton for a proposed documentary for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Filmed under the title "Between Heaven and Hell" (which was later changed to "Easy Come, Easy Go"), the documentary was lost for nearly 42 years. It was restored, reedited and shown at film festivals in 2012.


title: The Easybeats

text: In May, their first album for United Artists was released: "Good Friday" (re-titled "Friday on My Mind" in the US). That same month, they returned to Australia for a nationwide tour. After the tour, drummer Snowy Fleet decided to quit the band. Fleet was unhappy at the amount of time he had to spend away from his wife and young children. Returning to the UK without a drummer, the group began several recordings with a session drummer, Freddie Smith – a Glaswegian who had played with George Young's older brother Alex (stage name George Alexander) in Bobby Patrick & The Big Six.


title: The Easybeats

text: During this period, the band recorded their next single, "Heaven And Hell", which marked a turning point for the group, with its sophisticated songwriting and arrangements. Vanda and Young were influenced by the current psychedelic pop, popular in the UK and US. The single was produced by Glyn Johns, who had worked as an engineer on the Shel Talmy sessions. The band also began work on a new album with Johns, most of which was recorded and prepared for issue but was never released because of the band's complicated financial and contractual problems.


title: The Easybeats

text: "Heaven And Hell" was released in June and, like the previous single, it also failed to make a mark on the UK charts. This was due, in part, to the song being banned by the BBC. The single also ran into problems in the US, where a censored version titled "Heaven", replaced the lyric "Discovering someone else in your bed" with "discovering that her love has gone dead". In Australia the single did much better; reaching #8.


title: The Easybeats

text: After extensive auditions in London a replacement drummer was found in Tony Cahill (born 20 December 1941) who had formerly played with Brisbane band The Purple Hearts. With Cahill, the band toured the US in August, supporting Gene Pitney. During their US visit, they recorded their next single, "Falling Off the Edge of the World", in New York. The single received moderate airplay in the US, but did not chart.


title: The Easybeats

text: The band returned to London and continued to work in the studio. Their next single, "The Music Goes 'Round My Head", again written by Vanda and Young, is considered to have been influenced by the emerging UK Rocksteady/Ska scene. In late 1967, Vanda and Young began writing for other artists. Two of their songs, "Bring a Little Lovin'" and "Come In, You'll Get Pneumonia", were covered by Los Bravos (and later by Ricky Martin as "Dime Que Me Quieres") and Paul Revere and The Raiders respectively. Still trying to get back into the UK charts, the band moved to a more pop-friendly sound and released the soft rock, ballad "Hello, How Are You" on 8 March 1968. The plan worked and the song reached #20 in the UK charts. However, in retrospect, the band have cited the change in sound as a mistake, stating that it alienated the band's longterm fans.


title: The Easybeats

text: In May, the band finally released their second album for United Artists; "Vigil" (re-titled "Falling Off The Edge of the World" in the US). The album was a mixture of recent singles, new recordings and out-takes from the scrapped 1967 album. Two of the songs recorded for the abandoned LP, "Land of Make Believe" and "Good Times", were released as singles. The baroque pop ballad "Land of Make Believe" was released in the UK on 5 July and in Australia on 18 July. Although failing to chart in the UK, it reached No. 18 on the Australian charts. The B-side to the Australian single was the next UK single; "Good Times". Released on 13 September, "Good Times" again failed to chart in the UK. An often-told story about the song is that when the track was broadcast on BBC radio, it was reputedly heard by Paul McCartney on his car radio; McCartney apparently rang the station immediately to request a repeat playing. The song featured Steve Marriott of the Small Faces on backing vocals and Nicky Hopkins on piano. In November, Albert Productions released the UK B-side to "Good Times", the instrumental track "Lay Me Down and Die", as a single in Australia. The single was slammed by critics and reached #59 on the Australian chart; their lowest-charting single to date.


title: The Easybeats

text: Through late 1968, the formerly tight-knit band began to drift apart. Drugs were a factor, but the growing independence of the Vanda and Young team as a creative unit was also a major catalyst. By this time the duo were working substantially on their own and between them they could now play almost any instrument needed for recordings and had become skilled in engineering and producing their own recordings. They wrote prolifically, but many of their songs from this period remained unreleased for many years. They were also reluctant to do more than a few gigs per month, and so the band only came together for occasional performances or for 'demo' sessions at Central Sound Studios in Denmark Street.


title: The Easybeats

text: In 1969, the band parted ways with United Artists and their production company Albert Productions to sign with Polydor Records. In April, the group went into London's Olympic Studios to record their first single for Polydor. They teamed up with producer Ray Singer, a former member of UK band Nirvana, who had made a name for himself as a producer with Peter Sarstedt's "Where Do You Go To (My Lovely)". "St. Louis" was released on 27 June 1969, but failed to chart in the UK. However it reached No. 21 on the "Go-Set" charts in Australia. In July 1969, it was announced that the working relationship between manager Mike Vaughan and the group had come to an end.


title: The Easybeats

text: To continue their work as songwriters for hire, Vanda and Young took over a flat on Moscow Road in Bayswater in London which had previously been used as a jingle studio for pirate radio stations. With modifications, it became a 4-track home studio and Vanda and Young began producing demos, working mostly on their own. As with their Central Sound records, they played most of the instruments on their recordings with the other Easybeats members occasionally contributing. Nine of these demo recordings (with single "St. Louis" and "Can’t Find Love") were released by Polydor as an album under The Easybeats' name as "Friends". This album was released after their break-up.


title: The Easybeats

text: In September 1969, the band undertook a short European tour and then reluctantly accepted the offer of a five-week Australian tour. The tour was reported as being a last-ditch attempt to bail the group out of its mounting pool of debts.


title: The Easybeats

text: A number of factors made the Australian tour less than successful. Rather than playing larger venues as they did on the 1967 tour, the band was booked to play mainly smaller clubs and dance halls. Also, the band had reverted to 'no frills' hard rock whereas the Australian pop scene was preoccupied with progressive rock, soul, and bubblegum pop.


title: The Easybeats

text: The situation was further complicated by Albert Productions' unwelcome release (against the band's wishes) of several lo-fi demo recordings on "The Best of The Easybeats Volume 2". The recordings were songwriter demos sent to Albert Productions in 1967 and 1968 for other artists to record. "Peculiar Hole in the Sky" from that album was released as a single, it was originally recorded by Australian band the Valentines.


title: The Easybeats

text: In October 1969 the band made a valedictory TV appearance in the ATN-7 Easybeats Special (which was broadcast after the tour on 2 November). After their performance at Caesar's Place Disco, Sydney, on 25 October, a wedding was held for Diamonde and actress Charlene Collins. The following day, the Easybeats travelled to Orange, New South Wales. There they made a television appearance at the CBN-8 television studios and performed a show at the Amoco Centre in Orange city centre. However, the show was interrupted by hostile audience members and was cancelled after only 20 minutes. This was The Easybeats' final performance. After the tour, the band went their separate ways.


title: The Easybeats

text: Vanda and Young returned to the UK and remained there for three years, working to pay off debts incurred during The Easybeats' years. During the period 1970-74 they recorded under a number of names: Paintbox, Tramp, Eddie Avana, Moondance, Haffy's Whisky Sour, Vanda & Young, Band of Hope and the Marcus Hook Roll Band. They returned to Australia in 1973 and reunited with Ted Albert and became the house producers for his new Albert Productions record label, writing for and/or producing many chart-topping acts including Stevie Wright, Rose Tattoo, Cheetah, the Angels and William Shakespeare.


title: The Easybeats

text: They wrote and produced several major hits for John Paul Young including "Love Is in the Air" and "Yesterday's Hero", which was also a hit for The Bay City Rollers, and produced the first six albums for AC/DC (which featured George's younger brothers Angus Young and Malcolm Young).


title: The Easybeats

text: In the period 1976-92 Vanda and Young also recorded several singles under the pseudonym Flash and the Pan which charted in Australia and the UK, including "Hey St. Peter" and "Down Among the Dead Men". They had even more success in Europe with hits such as "Waiting for a Train", "Midnight Man", "Early Morning Wake Up Call", and "Ayla", from the number 1 albums "Early Morning Wake Up Call", "Headlines", and "Nights in France". Singer-model-actress Grace Jones also recorded a successful cover version of their song "Walking in the Rain".


title: The Easybeats

text: Stevie Wright went on to become a cast member of the original Australian stage production of "Jesus Christ Superstar" (1972–73) and then launched a successful but short-lived solo career with the hit single "Evie" and the album "Hard Road" in 1974, which reunited him with Vanda and Young, who produced the records and wrote many of the songs, including "Evie", an ambitious three-part suite split over two sides of a single.


title: The Easybeats

text: In later years Wright suffered debilitating drug and alcohol problems which were further exacerbated by his self-admission to the notorious Chelmsford Private Hospital in Sydney. Its director, Dr Harry Bailey, administered a highly controversial treatment known as "deep sleep therapy" which allegedly cured drug addiction with a combination of drug-induced coma and electroshock. Many patients, including Wright, suffered brain damage and lifelong after-effects, while others died as a result of the treatments.


title: The Easybeats

text: Original drummer Gordon "Snowy" Fleet became a successful builder in Perth, Western Australia, and now runs a rehearsal studio based in Jandakot, Western Australia. His replacement, Tony Cahill, remained in the UK for a time, briefly joining the final studio lineup of Python Lee Jackson as a bassist, before moving to the United States to tour with King Harvest.


title: The Easybeats

text: Dick Diamonde moved to the New South Wales North Coast and retired from performing, after some years of singing and playing in local pubs.


title: The Easybeats

text: In 1980, Flash and the Pan released their second album "Lights in the Night". Their next album, "Headlines" was released in August 1982. This featured the singles "Waiting for a Train" which reached #7 on the UK Charts and "Where Were You". The music video for "Where Were You" featured Stevie Wright as a futuristic rock star miming to George Young's vocals. Wright also provided vocals for the album. That same year there was talk of an Easybeats' reunion. Wright told Juke Magazine in 1983 "we had our lawyers working out the deal" because there was a venue interested in having them "but at the last minute they tried to change the venue and we just said 'forget it'."


title: The Easybeats

text: In 1983, there was a talk of a solo album with work done again with Vanda and Young. Wright said the album would best be described as "classy rock 'n' roll" and the songs were about "a wide spectrum of all the experiences I've been through". He said the love songs he had were optimistic. This interview gives a good idea as to how Wright worked in the studio with Vanda and Young: "Well, it's a three way thing. They'll sit down and say 'we've got this sort of song' and we'll discuss how we'll approach it. Obviously after this long we do have a very strong bond. I've written a couple of songs but since they're far better at it than I am, I'll let them handle that." According to the Juke Magazine article it was "due for release later that year", however this never happened.


title: The Easybeats

text: In January 1984, Wright was charged with attempted housebreaking days after attending Westmount drug rehabilitation centre in Katoomba, west of Sydney. He was arrested for heroin use later that month. He had been using heroin since about 1973, and, according to Wright, he remained an addict for 20 years. Also that year, Flash and the Pan's next album, "Early Morning Wake Up Call", was released.


title: The Easybeats

text: In November 1986, the original line-up reunited for an Australian tour. The tour was warmly received by critics and fans. Wright reformed the Stevie Wright Band and relaunched his live career, gigging around Australia in hotels and clubs between 1986 and 1988. In 1987, Flash and the Pan released their fifth album, "Nights in France".


title: The Easybeats

text: Wright's substance abuse problems spiralled out of control in the 1980s and 1990s and he came close to death on several occasions, but was pulled back from the brink by his partner, Faye.


title: The Easybeats

text: In 1999 journalist Jack Marx published a much-anticipated book about Wright, entitled "Sorry - The Wretched Tale of Little Stevie Wright". It was critically applauded by some reviewers - Australian music historian Clinton Walker calling it "gonzo journalism at its best", while "The Bulletin" later referred to "Sorry" as "one of the most harrowing rock books ever written".


title: The Easybeats

text: Nevertheless, "Sorry" earned the disdain of its subject, Wright's many fans and other critics. Internet reviewer Ken Grady (Luna Cafe, 1999) described Marx as "a self serving hypocrite" and concluded his review by observing: "The only thing that Marx has achieved is to depict himself as a very unlikeable, morally bankrupt leech."


title: The Easybeats

text: The 2000s saw a band calling itself "The Easybeats" tour and make TV appearances around Europe. No members were in any line-up of the Australian band or played on any of the records, despite the lead singer using a similar name. In addition, another English cover band has taken the Easybeats name, while also having no members who were in the Australian band or played on any of the original recordings.


title: The Easybeats

text: In 2000, George Young produced AC/DC's "Stiff Upper Lip" album. It was the first time he had worked with the group without Harry Vanda co-producing.


title: The Easybeats

text: Due to his health, Wright only performed a small number of shows in the 2000s, although in 2002 he was well enough to perform as part of the all-star "Long Way to the Top" national concert tour. His autobiography, "Hard Road", was published in 2004. In 2007, Stevie Wright performed at the Gathering Festival in Yandina, Sunshine Coast. On 31 January 2009, Wright closed the Legends of Rock festival in Byron Bay, Australia.


title: The Easybeats

text: On 14 July 2005, the Easybeats were inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame. Wright, Vanda and Snowy Fleet attended the ceremony.


title: The Easybeats

text: After falling ill on 26 December 2015, Wright was admitted to hospital on the South Coast of New South Wales, Australia. He did not recover and died on the evening the next day.


title: The Easybeats

text: Acover version of "Good Times" by INXS and Jimmy Barnes was a No. 2 in Australia in 1986, and became the biggest selling single on Mushroom Records. In 1987 it became a No. 47 hit in the US after being featured on the soundtrack of the film "The Lost Boys".


title: The Easybeats

text: In 1987, Gary Moore, released a cover version of "Friday on My Mind" on the "Wild Frontier" album that charted in Australia, Ireland, Finland, New Zealand and the UK.


title: The Easybeats

text: "Friday on My Mind" is an Australian television drama mini series first screened on ABC in 2017, based on the history of the band from its formation at the Villawood Migrant Hostel in 1964 to the 1969 breakup.


title: The Easybeats

text: The ARIA Music Awards is an annual awards ceremony that recognises excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres of Australian music. They commenced in 1987. The Easybeats were inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2005.


title: L.A. Story

text: L.A. Story is a 1991 American satirical romantic comedy film written by and starring Steve Martin and directed by Mick Jackson. The plot follows a weatherman (Martin) trying to find love in Los Angeles. It was released on February 8, 1991, and received generally positive reviews from critics.


title: L.A. Story

text: Harris K. Telemacher is a TV weather presenter living in Los Angeles. He is in a dead-end relationship with his social-climbing girlfriend Trudi, and feels his job requires him to be undignified and unintellectual, though he has a PhD in arts and humanities. He wants to find some meaning and magic in his life, having grown increasingly weary of what he sees as the rather shallow and superficial city of LA, from overly pretentious coffee orders to bizarre shooting etiquette rules on the freeway. He spends his time roller-skating through art galleries with his friend Ariel, offering eccentric art reviews to acquaintances, remixing Shakespeare a lot, and otherwise seeking to escape his ordinary life.


title: L.A. Story

text: At a luncheon with a group of friends, he meets Sara, a journalist from London, with whom he immediately becomes infatuated.


title: L.A. Story

text: Driving home that night, his car breaks down on the freeway. He notices that a freeway traffic condition sign seems to be displaying messages intended solely for him. It offers him cryptic advice on his love life throughout the movie.


title: L.A. Story

text: He begins to fall for Sara, but she is conflicted because she has pledged to reconcile with her ex-husband, Roland. Feeling that a relationship with Sara is unlikely, Harris begins dating SanDeE*, a ditzy aspiring spokesmodel, whom he meets at a clothing store. After his first date with her, Harris discovers that Trudi has been cheating on him for three years with his agent. The discovery leads him to pursue his romantic interest in Sara. This is complicated by his new relationship with SanDeE* and by Sara's feeling of obligation to Roland.


title: L.A. Story

text: By the conclusion, he has successfully wooed Sara – with some encouragement and advice from the sign, some helpful weather, and plenty of cameos from Patrick Stewart, Chevy Chase, Iman, Rick Moranis, Terry Jones, and many others, with musical encouragement from Enya.


title: L.A. Story

text: There are uncredited cameo appearances by Chevy Chase, Woody Harrelson, Paula Abdul, Martin Lawrence, Rick Moranis (this would be the fourth and final film in which Moranis appeared with Martin), and Terry Jones. John Lithgow and Scott Bakula filmed scenes—as a movie agent and Harris's neighbor, respectively—that did not appear in the final cut (although references to Lithgow's character remain in the freeway shootout and the 'California Cuisine' lunch scenes).


title: L.A. Story

text: "L.A. Story" was a box office success. The film earned $6.6 million during its opening weekend, and ended its theatrical run with a gross of $28 million.


title: L.A. Story

text: On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 93% based on 43 reviews, with an average rating of 7.60/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "A romantic comedy that doubles as a love letter to the titular city, "L.A. Story" is Steve Martin at his silly, sweetly soulful best." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 66 out of 100, based on 11 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.


title: L.A. Story

text: In 2008, "L.A. Story" was voted by a group of "Los Angeles Times" writers and editors as the 20th best film set in Los Angeles in the last 25years—with two criteria: "The movie had to communicate some inherent truth about the L.A. experience, and only one film per director was allowed on the list".


title: Dalila Bela

text: Dalila Bela (born October 5, 2001) is a Canadian actress who is known for her role as Agent Olive on the TVOKids/PBS series "Odd Squad" (2014–2015), in the films of "" (2012), and work on television shows such as "Once Upon a Time" (2015) and "Anne with an E" (2017–2019).


title: Dalila Bela

text: Dalila Bela was born in Montreal, Quebec. She is of English, French, Brazilian, Panamanian and Spanish ancestry. Her father is from Panama, and her mother is from Brazil. She has two younger brothers named Bruce and Raphael, who are also actors. She currently lives in Los Angeles, California.


title: Dalila Bela

text: Bela began her career in acting at the age of five when she first appeared on a national commercial. A year later, she won "Best Actor of the Year", and moved with her family to Vancouver. Following her move, she won the Young Artist Award for best performance in a direct to video movie, entitled "The Stranger". In both 2011 and 2012, she was awarded the Young Artist Award for her work in "Joanna Makes a Friend".


title: Dalila Bela

text: Bela won the 2015 Joey Awards for Best Young Ensemble in a TV Series for her starring role in "Odd Squad", sharing the award with her "Odd Squad" co-stars. Additionally, she has received accolades for her role of Lola Littleton in "Dead Hearts" at the Diabolique Film Festival Award.


title: Dalila Bela

text: She portrayed Diana Barry in the series by CBC/Netflix, "Anne with an E", based on the book "Anne of Green Gables".


title: Trackhouse Racing Team

text: Trackhouse Racing is a professional stock car auto racing organization that currently competes in the NASCAR Cup Series. The team is owned by Trackhouse Entertainment Group, a venture of Justin Marks and Grammy Award-winning rapper Armando Christian "Pitbull" Pérez.


title: Trackhouse Racing Team

text: The organization fields two full-time Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 cars: the No. 1 for Ross Chastain and the No. 99 for Daniel Suárez. It also fields the No. 91 on a part-time basis. Car bodies and engines are provided by Richard Childress Racing.


title: Trackhouse Racing Team

text: After Leavine Family Racing announced the sale of its assets in summer 2020, former NASCAR Cup Series driver and former World of Outlaws and K&N Pro Series East team owner Justin Marks placed a bid on the sale. LFR eventually sold their assets to Spire Motorsports. On August 14, Marks confirmed the creation of his own team, Trackhouse, and revealed that former Dale Earnhardt Incorporated executive Ty Norris had been brought on to help run the team. At that time, Marks had yet to strike a formal alliance with any manufacturer or team, but already had one potential sponsor lined up. He had also yet to purchase any equipment. From his ownership of a go-kart track and other family business ventures, Marks had the financial wherewithal to purchase a team without other means. Marks aimed to be an unconventional team owner, with plans to use his team ownership platform as an advocate for STEM education. On January 15, 2021, it was announced that Armando Christian Pérez, better known by his stage name Pitbull, had assumed an ownership role in the team. On May 30, motivational speaker and philanthropist Tony Robbins hinted at investing in the team. On June 10, Marks told Sirius XM NASCAR Radio that the team may expand to a two-car operation in 2022. On June 30, 2021, Trackhouse announced their purchase of the NASCAR operations of Chip Ganassi Racing and along with it, its two charters for the No. 1 and the No. 42 teams, therefore announcing the team will be two cars in 2022.


title: Trackhouse Racing Team

text: On August 3, 2021, the team announced that Ross Chastain would drive their second car, the No. 1, in 2022. Chastain began the 2022 season with a 40th place finish at the 2022 Daytona 500 and a 29th place finish at Fontana. He then rebounded with a third place finish at Las Vegas and two runner-up finishes at Phoenix and Atlanta. Chastain scored his first career cup win and Trackhouse's first ever win at COTA. A month later, he claimed his second victory at Talladega. At the 2022 NASCAR All-Star Race, Chastain finished 22nd after going airborne from colliding with Kyle Busch, taking Chase Elliott out in the process. At the Indianapolis road course, Chastain crossed the line second to Tyler Reddick, but was penalized and scored 27th place for crossing the access road during the final restart. Chastain made the Championship 4 after doing a video game move at Martinsville by sliding on the outside wall to slingshot his way to overtake Denny Hamlin and finish fifth (Chastain would be credited a finish of fourth after Brad Keselowski was disqualified following post-race tech inspection due to his car failing to meet the minimum weight requirement). He finished third at the Phoenix finale and a career-best second place in the points standings.


title: Trackhouse Racing Team

text: On May 24, 2022, Trackhouse announced the creation of Project91, a part-time entry that aims to put international drivers behind the wheel in the Cup Series. The team is due to compete in at least one race during the 2022 season, with the driver and the race yet to be announced, before adding additional races in the 2023 season. Two days later, it was announced that former Formula 1 World Champion Kimi Räikkönen would be driving the No. 91 car at Watkins Glen. Räikkönen finished 37th after crashing on the tire barrier past the bus-stop chicane on lap 45.


title: Trackhouse Racing Team

text: On October 7, 2020, the team announced a full-time drive in 2021 with Daniel Suárez as driver. Later, the team announced that it leased a charter from Spire Motorsports to guarantee itself an entry into every 2021 race. Trackhouse aligned with Richard Childress Racing as an engine provider for 2021 as well as operating on RCR's campus in Welcome, North Carolina. Marks chose the 99 as the team number to pay tribute to Carl Edwards. On November 13, former JR Motorsports crew chief Travis Mack was announced as the No. 99's crew chief. Suárez scored the team's first top-five with a fourth-place finish at the Bristol dirt race. With a total of four top-10 finishes, Suárez finished the 2021 season 25th in points.


title: Trackhouse Racing Team

text: In February 2022, Trackhouse announced that Freeway Insurance would be a primary sponsor for Suárez and the No. 99 car for five events during the 2022 season. Suárez began the 2022 season with an 18th place finish at the 2022 Daytona 500. He followed it up with a fourth place finish at Fontana. In addition, Suárez finished ninth at Phoenix and fourth at Atlanta. On May 22, Suárez won the NASCAR Open for the second time in his career, which earned him a place in the All-Star Race where he finished fifth. At Sonoma, he became the first Mexican-born driver to win a Cup Series race. Suárez was eliminated in the Round of 12 after finishing 36th at the Charlotte Roval. Suárez would finish career-best tenth in the points standings.


title: Regeneron Pharmaceuticals

text: Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is an American biotechnology company headquartered in Westchester County, New York. The company was founded in 1988. Originally focused on neurotrophic factors and their regenerative capabilities, giving rise to its name, the company then branched out into the study of both cytokine and tyrosine kinase receptors.


title: Regeneron Pharmaceuticals

text: Regeneron has developed aflibercept, a VEGF inhibitor, and rilonacept, an interleukin-1 blocker. VEGF is a protein that normally stimulates the growth of blood vessels, and interleukin-1 is a protein that is normally involved in inflammation.


title: Regeneron Pharmaceuticals

text: On March 26, 2012, Bloomberg announced that Sanofi and Regeneron were in development of a new drug that would help reduce cholesterol up to 72% more than its competitors. The new drug would target the PCSK9 gene.


title: Regeneron Pharmaceuticals

text: In July 2015, the company announced a new global collaboration with Sanofi to discover, develop, and commercialize new immuno-oncology drugs, which could generate more than $2 billion for Regeneron, with $640 million upfront, $750 million for proof-of-concept data, and $650 million from the development of REGN2810. REGN2810 was later named cemiplimab. In 2019, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals was announced the 7th best stock of the 2010s, with a total return of 1,457%. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals was home to the two highest-paid pharmaceutical executives as of 2020.


title: Regeneron Pharmaceuticals

text: In October 2017, Regeneron made a deal with the US-government Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority that the government would fund 80% of the costs for Regeneron to develop and manufacture antibody treatments, including now their Coronavirus disease 2019 treatments, and Regeneron would retain the right to set prices and control production. This deal was criticized in "The New York Times". Such deals are not unusual for routine drug development in the American pharmaceutical market.


title: Regeneron Pharmaceuticals

text: In May 2020, Regeneron announced it would repurchase around $5 billion of its shares, held directly by Sanofi. Prior to the transaction, Sanofi held 23.2 million Regeneron shares.


title: Regeneron Pharmaceuticals

text: In April 2022, the business announced it would acquire Checkmate Pharmaceuticals for around $250 million, enhancing its number of immuno-oncology drugs.


title: Regeneron Pharmaceuticals

text: On February 4, 2020, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which already worked with Regeneron, announced that Regeneron would pursue monoclonal antibodies to fight COVID-19.


title: Regeneron Pharmaceuticals

text: In July 2020, under Operation Warp Speed, Regeneron was awarded a $450 million government contract to manufacture and supply its experimental treatment REGN-COV2, an artificial "antibody cocktail" which was then undergoing clinical trials for its potential both to treat people with COVID-19 and to prevent SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus infection. The $450 million came from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), the DoD Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Defense, and Army Contracting Command. Regeneron expected to produce 70,000–300,000 treatment doses or 420,000–1,300,000 prevention doses. "By funding this manufacturing effort, the federal government will own the doses expected to result from the demonstration project," the government said in its July 7 news release. Regeneron similarly said in its own news release that same day that "the government has committed to making doses from these lots available to the American people at no cost and would be responsible for their distribution," noting that this depended on the government granting emergency use authorization or product approval. California based laboratory, FOMAT, is part of the clinical investigation through their doctors Augusto and Nicholas Focil.


title: Regeneron Pharmaceuticals

text: In October 2020 when U.S. President Donald Trump was infected with COVID-19 and taken to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, he was administered REGN-COV2. His doctors obtained it from Regeneron via a compassionate use request (as clinical trials had not yet been completed and the drug had not yet been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)). On October 7, Trump posted a five-minute video to Twitter reasserting that this drug should be "free." That same day, Regeneron filed with the FDA for emergency use authorization. In the filing, it specified that it currently had 50,000 doses and that it expected to reach a total of 300,000 doses "within the next few months." The FDA granted approval for emergency use authorization in November 2020.


title: Regeneron Pharmaceuticals

text: Trap Fusion Proteins: Regeneron's novel and patented Trap technology creates high-affinity product candidates for many types of signaling molecules, including growth factors and cytokines. The Trap technology involves fusing two distinct fully human receptor components and a fully human immunoglobulin-G constant region.


title: Regeneron Pharmaceuticals

text: Fully Human Monoclonal Antibodies: Regeneron has developed a suite (VelociSuite) of patented technologies, including VelocImmune and VelociMab, that allow Regeneron scientists to determine the best targets for therapeutic intervention and rapidly generate high-quality, fully human antibodies drug candidates addressing these targets.


title: Regeneron Pharmaceuticals

text: The founders Leonard Schleifer and George Yancopoulos are reported to hold $1.3 billion and $900 million in company stock, respectively. Both are from Queens, New York. Schleifer was formerly a professor of medicine at Weill Cornell Medical School. Yancopoulos was an assistant professor at Columbia University. Yancopoulos was involved in each drug's development.


title: Bo Gritz

text: James Gordon "Bo" Gritz (; born January 18, 1939) is an American former United States Army Special Forces officer and presidential candidate. After serving in the Vietnam War and retiring from the military, Gritz has worked on attempted POW rescues in conjunction with the Vietnam War POW/MIA issue. Gritz ran for United States president under the Populist Party in 1992 under the slogan: "God, Guns and Gritz," and published an isolationist political manifesto titled "The Bill of Gritz". Gritz lives in Sandy Valley, Nevada and has four children.


title: Bo Gritz

text: Gritz was born on January 18, 1939, in Enid, Oklahoma. His father served in the Army Air Force in World War II and was killed in action. He was raised by his maternal grandparents. After being expelled from his local high school, Gritz attended and graduated from Fork Union Military Academy in Virginia.


title: Bo Gritz

text: Gritz enlisted in the Army on August 20, 1957, and shortly thereafter attended Officer Candidate School (OCS). He was promoted to the rank of captain in 1963, and to major in 1967.


title: Bo Gritz

text: In Vietnam, he commanded detachment "B-36", 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne) for a time. B-36 was a mixed American and Cambodian-Vietnamese MIKE Force, an eventually battalion-size unit composed mostly of local indigenous people serving as mercenaries that operated in the III Corps area of southern South Vietnam near the Cambodian border. His successful missions included finding and retrieving the black box of a Lockheed U-2 spy plane downed inside enemy territory in Cambodia in December 1966.


title: Bo Gritz

text: After six years in Vietnam, Gritz served in a variety of assignments, including commanding Special Forces in Latin America 1975–1977, as a Desk Officer for the Middle East, and Chief of Congressional Relations for the Defense Security Agency (International Security Affairs) in the Office of the Secretary of Defense (1977–1979) until his retirement in 1979 at the rank of lieutenant colonel. According to Gritz, backed by video evidence, following his formal retirement he also trained the Afghan mujahideen in America on behalf of the government.


title: Bo Gritz

text: General William Westmoreland in his memoir, "A Soldier Reports", cites Gritz as "The" American Soldier. Gritz received an array of military awards, and some of these have been called into question. A memo regarding his awards and award recommendations during his time in Vietnam seems to indicate that Gritz was personally involved with the recommendation of some of his medals, including the Legion of Merit, and that some of his award recommendations cited the same missions and incidents, effectively awarding Gritz multiple medals for the same missions, including the Legion of Merit, Air Medal, Silver Star, Bronze Star, and Army Commendation Medal.


title: Bo Gritz

text: During the early 1980s, as part of the Vietnam War POW/MIA issue, Gritz undertook a series of private trips into Southeast Asia, in attempts to locate U.S. prisoners of war that some Americans believed had been detained since the Vietnam War, by the communist governments of Laos and Vietnam, "e.g.", at Nhommarath. In his forays into Laos, Gritz worked with his fellow special forces veterans and with Laotian anti-communist guerrillas, one of whom was killed by the men of the exiled Laotian warlord Phoumi Nosavan who also abducted the American search party member Dominic "Zap" Zappone for ransom. Initially, some abortive technical assistance was provided by elements of the Defense Intelligence Agency in 1981. The later adventures have been financed by high profile donors like Clint Eastwood and Ross Perot. Operating out of Thailand, from where he was repeatedly deported by the authorities, Gritz used aliases such as "Richard Patrick Clark". He also testified as a witness before the House committee headed by Stephen Solarz in 1983, but was unable to provide any evidence of the existence of the POWs.


title: Bo Gritz

text: These activities were heavily publicized, controversial and widely decried as haphazard. For instance, as some commentators stated, few supposedly secret missions involved bringing to the border towns women openly selling commemorative POW-rescue T-shirts. In the book "Inside Delta Force", CSM Eric L. Haney, a former Delta Force operator, claims that the unit was twice told to prepare for a mission involving the rescue of American POWs from Vietnam. However, both times the missions were scrubbed, according to Haney, when Gritz suddenly appeared in the spotlight, drawing too much attention to the issue and making the missions too difficult to accomplish. In 1983, Gritz (who had surrendered himself by walking into a police station) and four of his associates were tried and convicted in Thailand of illegally importing radio equipment during their "Operation Lazarus Omega"; one of them, a former Navy SEAL David Scott Weekly also known as "Doctor Death", was also later convicted in America of smuggling explosives. Thailand authorities expressed concern that the Vietnamese forces in Laos would retaliate against them for cross-border armed intrusions and threatened to jail Gritz for 20 years. Vietnamese Foreign Minister Nguyen Co Thach called Gritz's actions "a flagrant violation of the sovereignty of Laos that everyone should denounce."


title: Bo Gritz

text: In 1986, after a trip to Burma (now Myanmar) to interview drug kingpin Khun Sa regarding possible locations of U.S. POWs, Gritz returned from Burma with a videotaped interview of Khun Sa purporting to name several officials in the Reagan administration involved in narcotics trafficking in Southeast Asia. Among those named was Richard Armitage, who later served as Deputy Secretary of State during George W. Bush's first term as president. During this period Gritz established contacts with the Christic Institute, a progressive group which was then pursuing a lawsuit against the U.S. government over charges of drug trafficking in both Southeast Asia and Central America. In 1989, he established the Center for Action, which was active on a number of issues, mostly pertaining to conspiracy theories. Attempting to build bridges among conspiracy theorists and unite activists of both the left and the right, he held a conference in Las Vegas called "Freedom Call '90". Speakers at that conference included October Surprise conspiracy theory researcher Barbara Honegger, Bill Davis of the Christic Institute, far-right writer Eustace Mullins, and several others.


title: Bo Gritz

text: This newfound interest proved to be almost as controversial as his earlier missions searching for POWs. During the 1991 Persian Gulf War, Gritz was an opponent of the war, and linked it to a conspiracy theory alleging plans to implement a one-world government, known as the "New World Order". He appeared on Pacifica Radio stations in California as a guest several times, and for a short time was in demand as a speaker to left-wing and anti-war audiences. However, during this period he also became closely associated with the Christian Patriot movement on the right, and spoke at conferences sponsored by Christian Identity pastor Pete Peters. When these associations became known to those on the left, especially after the publication of a report by the Los Angeles-based group People Against Racist Terror calling Gritz a "front man for fascism", left-wing audiences lost interest in Gritz, and the Christic Institute and Pacifica Radio cut off any further association. He has since distanced himself from the movement.


title: Bo Gritz

text: In the 1988 election, Gritz was the candidate for Vice President of the United States on the Populist Party line; initially, unbeknownst to him, he was billed as the running mate of former Ku Klux Klansman David Duke. Gritz pulled out early in the race and publicly distanced himself from Duke and ran instead for a Nevada Congressional seat. Gritz was then replaced by Floyd Parker on some ballots. Gritz has claimed that he accepted the party's nomination in the belief that he would be the running mate of James Traficant. Shortly after meeting Duke, Gritz wrote that Duke was "a brash, untraveled, overly opinionated, bigoted young man" and that "I will not support anyone that I know to hate any class of Americans."


title: Bo Gritz

text: In the 1992 election, after failing to secure the U.S. Taxpayers' Party's nomination, Gritz ran for President of the United States, again with the Populist Party. Under the campaign slogan "God, Guns and Gritz" and publishing his political manifesto "The Bill of Gritz" (playing on his last name rhyming with "rights"), he called for staunch opposition to what he called "global government" and the "New World Order", ending all foreign aid, and abolishing the federal income tax and the Federal Reserve System. During the campaign, Gritz openly proclaimed the United States to be a "Christian Nation", stating that the country's legal statutes "should reflect unashamed acceptance of Almighty God and His Laws." He received 106,152 votes nationwide, or only 0.14 percent of the popular vote. In two states he had a respectable showing for a third-party candidate: in Utah, where he received 3.84 percent of the vote and in Idaho, where he received 2.13 percent of the vote. In Duchesne County and Oneida County, Idaho, his support topped ten percent, whilst in Franklin County, Idaho, Gritz received over twelve percent and was only 23 votes away from pushing Bill Clinton into fourth place – which has not happened to a major party nominee in any county nationwide since 1916. During his presidential run, part of Gritz's standard stump speech was an idea to pay off the National debt by minting a coin at the Treasury and sending it to the Federal Reserve. This predates the 2012 trillion-dollar coin concept. Among other things, the "Bill of Gritz" called for the complete closing of the border with Mexico, and the dissolution of the Federal Reserve.


title: Bo Gritz

text: In 1984, Gritz and his wife Claudia were baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). However, amid infidelity scandals, Gritz's stake president refused to renew Gritz's temple recommend until Gritz could prove that he had paid federal income tax. In response, Gritz resigned his membership in the LDS Church. In 1999, Gritz and his then fourth wife Judy Kirsch became involved in the Church of Israel, a group that originated within the Latter Day Saint movement and has become involved with the Christian Identity movement, from which he has later distanced himself. While he was married to Judy, Gritz was accused of supporting the Christian Identity ideology, in which people of Celtic and Germanic descent can be traced back to the "Lost Tribes of Israel". Many adherents consider Jews to be the Satanic offspring of Eve and the Serpent, while non-whites are "mud peoples" created before Adam and Eve. He has been accused of White supremacy by some, although he denounced the belief in an interview with The Militia Watchdog, saying "I've served with black, white, yellow, brown, red; all religions; nobody ever asked you about your religion, your blood bleeds red the same as everyone else." Gritz also openly denounced racism during his SPIKE (Specially Prepared Individuals for Key Events) training courses, and welcomed all who wanted to join in the training, regardless of race.


title: Bo Gritz

text: In 1994, together with former Arizona State Senator Jerry Gillespie and other partners, Gritz established a 200-acre survivalist community and paramilitary training center in Kamiah, Idaho (contiguous to the Nez Perce people) called Almost Heaven. He left Almost Heaven in late 1998, following his suicide attempt (a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest with a .45 Colt pistol while dressed in full military regalia with all his medals). Under influence of the Church of Israel ideology, Gritz then moved to Nevada where he rebranded his Center for Action (originally dedicated to "putting accountability back into government") as the more spiritual Fellowship of Eternal Warriors, a selected group of "warrior-priests" dedicated to oppose the forces of evil (defined by him as a globalist cabal of feminists, male homosexuals, "and other liberal activists ... promoting abortion, pornography, pedophilia, Godless laws, adultery, New Age, international banking", and led by "the worshippers of Baal with their roots still in Babylonian mysticism".). Five years after Gritz had left Almost Heaven, the community was described as almost defunct.


title: Bo Gritz

text: Several times, Gritz used his influence and reputation in the Christian Patriot movement in attempts to negotiate conclusions between legal authorities and far-right activists. In 1992, Gritz attracted national attention as mediator to the crisis involving his fellow Army Special Forces veteran (as well as Christian Identity follower and White separatist) Randy Weaver at Ruby Ridge, Idaho. He intervened on behalf of Weaver who, with his family, was living at his survivalist refuge at Ruby Ridge, after U.S. Marshals attempted to arrest him for failure to appear in court. The federal siege, which resulted in the deaths of a U.S. Marshal and Weaver's son and wife, ended after Gritz convinced Weaver, his daughter, and family friend Kevin Harris to leave their cabin and place his faith and trust in the court system. Attorney Gerry Spence was asked by Gritz to defend Weaver, which he did successfully, and in turn defended his action to do so in a letter to Alan Hirschfield. In 1996, Gritz unsuccessfully attempted to negotiate a conclusion to the standoff by the Montana Freemen, an anti-government White separatist militia group of Christian Patriot sovereign citizens who were wanted on an assortment of charges. Randy Weaver accompanied him during the trip. After speaking with the Freemen, who have taken an "oath to God" not to get out unless their demands were met, Gritz left in frustration, stating that they presented him with what he called a religious and legal "mumbo-jumbo" to support their claims, and predicting the outcome as the Freemen being arrested by the FBI following "a confrontation of wills".


title: Bo Gritz

text: In 1998, Gritz organized a fruitless search for the Centennial Olympic Park bomber Eric Rudolph in order to save Rudolph's life and persuade him to surrender to law enforcement. In 2005, Gritz became an active protester for intervention in the Terri Schiavo case. On 19 March 2005, when her feeding tube was removed, he was arrested for trespassing after trying to enter the hospice where she lived. Beginning in 2014, Gritz hosted a radio show on Americanvoiceradio.com known as "Freedom Call".


title: Bo Gritz

text: Gritz is the author of three books. The first, "A Nation Betrayed", was published in 1989 and contained Gritz's allegations of drug trafficking and a POW coverup, based on the Khun Sa interview. The second, "Called To Serve", was published in 1992 and expanded on the previous book to cover a wide range of conspiracies, including the assassination of John F. Kennedy, and allegations of a conspiracy to establish a new world order. His third book is titled "My Brother's Keeper" and was published in 2003.


title: Bo Gritz

text: The character of John "Hannibal" Smith on the 1980s television series "The A-Team" was loosely based on Gritz, as were some of Chuck Norris' film heroes. Reportedly, Gritz also partially inspired several other characters, including these of Colonel Kurtz in the 1978 film "Apocalypse Now", and John Rambo, the protagonist of the "Rambo" franchise. Gritz himself played the character of Lt. Col. Steel, a highly fictionalized version of himself, in the 1990 film "Rescue Force".


title: Bo Gritz

text: The real Gritz was portrayed by Bob Gunton in the 1996 television film "The Siege at Ruby Ridge" ("Ruby Ridge: An American Tragedy"), as well as by Vic Browder in the first episode of the 2018 television miniseries "WACO". In 1983, actor William Shatner purchased entertainment rights to Gritz's life story.


title: Bo Gritz

text: Gritz's community Almost Heaven featured in the episode "Survivalists" of "Louis Theroux's Weird Weekends" in 1998. The 2017 documentary "Erase and Forget" had filmmaker Andrea Luka Zimmerman follow Gritz for more than 10 years, including re-enacting scenes from his life.


title: Paritala Ravindra

text: Paritala Ravindra (30 August 1958 – 24 January 2005), better known as Paritala Ravi, was a politician from the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. He was a cabinet minister in Andhra Pradesh and a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA). He was assassinated by his political rivals in 2005. He started as a communist in the footsteps of his father who donated his land to poor people and later entered electoral politics by joining the Telugu Desam Party. He was elected five times as an MLA from the Penukonda constituency in Anantapur district, Andhra Pradesh.


title: Paritala Ravindra

text: Paritala Ravi's father, Paritala Sreeramulu, was a Naxalite leader and was close to Kondapalli Seetharamaiah of the then-monolithic People’s War Group. In 1975, Gangula Narayana Reddy, a factionist, Congress MLA and Sane Chenna Reddy, another factionist, killed Sreeramulu. He was seventeen years old when his father was killed. He, along with his brother, Paritala Hari, escaped the attack.


title: Paritala Ravindra

text: After losing his father and brother, Ravi wanted to take shelter from his rivals. He went to his maternal uncle, Kondaiah, in Seerpi Kottaala village of Uravakonda Constituency to take shelter. He married his uncle's daughter Sunitha in 1986 and took up cultivation. He had three children. He was one of the accused in the murder of Gangula Narayana Reddy, Narsanna and Yaadi Reddy.


title: Paritala Ravindra

text: After Narayana Reddy was killed, Ramachandra Reddy of the Telugu Desam Party became MLA from Penukonda in 1983 and 1985. In the 1989 elections, the Congress formed the government in the state. Sane Chenna Reddy became MLA of Penukonda by defeating Ramachandra Reddy of the TDP. Ravi wanted to avenge the deaths of his father and brother. He allied himself with Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) People's War (PWG) who were ready to help Ravi and so plotted against Chenna Reddy. Sane Chenna Reddy, who was conspirator in his father's and brother's deaths was killed in Dharmavaram in 1991. By-elections were conducted and Ramana Reddy, son of Chenna Reddy, became MLA in 1991.


title: Paritala Ravindra

text: Paritala Ravindra was accused in the murder of 7 of MaddelaCheruvu Suri's family members (including women and children) in 1995 via a TV bomb. Ravi allegedly planned the bomb to kill Suri, but Suri escaped.


title: Paritala Ravindra

text: Maddelacheruvu Suri tried to take vengeance by triggering a remote-controlled car bomb in Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad, in 1997, but missed his target. After his death, his wife Paritala Sunitha became M.L.A from his assembly constituency Penugonda.


title: Paritala Ravindra

text: On 24 January 2005, hired killers detonated bombs near the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) party office and shot Ravindra. He died instantly.


title: Paritala Ravindra

text: On 9 November 2008, Joolakanti Srinivas Reddy was assassinated in the Anantapur jail. The main person accused in the case, Maddelacheruvu Suri (Gangula Surya Narayana Reddy), was murdered by his aide Bhanu Kiran on 4 January 2011 in Hyderabad for property disputes. On 18 December 2018 Telangana High Court had sentenced him to life. The court delivered the verdict after examining 133 witnesses, including Paritala's father-in-law Kondanna. The court has convicted 8 accused - Hanumantha Reddy, Peddi Reddy, O.B. Reddy, Vadde Konda, Vadde Srinivasulu, Rekamayya, Narayana Reddy and Ranganayakulu - and the approver was Rammohan Reddy. 4 accused - G B Reddy, Anand Reddy (Rice Mama), Ramaswamy and Patola Govardhan Reddy - have been acquitted.


title: E-meter

text: The E-meter, originally the electropsychometer, is an electronic device for displaying the electrodermal activity (EDA) of a human being. It is used for auditing in Scientology and divergent groups. The efficacy and legitimacy of Scientology's use of the E-meter has been subject to extensive litigation and in accordance with a federal court order, the Church of Scientology publishes disclaimers declaring that the E-meter "by itself does nothing," is incapable of improving health, and is used specifically for spiritual purposes.


title: E-meter

text: Such devices have been used as research tools in many human studies, and as one of several components of the Leonarde Keeler's polygraph (lie detector) system, which has been widely criticized as ineffective and pseudoscientific by legal experts and psychologists.


title: E-meter

text: Electrodermal activity (EDA) is the changing electrical charges observed on the surface of the skin. EDA meters were first developed in 1889 in Russia, and psychotherapists began using them as tools for therapy in the 1900s.


title: E-meter

text: Volney Mathison built an EDA meter based on a Wheatstone bridge, a vacuum tube amplifier, and a large moving-coil meter that projected an image of the needle on the wall. He patented his device in 1954 as an "electropsychometer" or E-meter, and it came to be known as the "Mathison Electropsychometer". In Mathison's words, the E-meter "has a needle that swings back and forth across a scale when a patient holds on to two electrical contacts". Mathison recorded in his book, "Electropsychometry", that the idea of the E-meter came to him in 1950 while listening to a lecture by L. Ron Hubbard:


title: E-meter

text: Mathison began working with Hubbard in 1951 and that year filed application for his first E-meter patent, U.S. Patent 2,684,670. After the partnership broke up in 1954, Mathison continued improving his E-meters with additional patents (, ), marketing them through his own company and publications, retaining many of the concepts and terms from his time with Hubbard.


title: E-meter

text: In a separate line of development, EDA monitors were incorporated in polygraph machines by Leonarde Keeler. Rigorous testing of the polygraph has yielded mixed results (see Polygraph main page), and some critics classify polygraph operation as a pseudoscience.


title: E-meter

text: The E-meter was adopted for use in Dianetics and Scientology when Mathison collaborated with Hubbard in 1951. Some sources say the E-meter was "developed by Volney Mathison following Hubbard's designs", or that Hubbard invented it. Hubbard falsely claimed to be the inventor of the E-meter, a claim which is in keeping with the Scientology stance that Hubbard is the "source", or "the only originator of all Dianetics and Scientology material".


title: E-meter

text: The E-meter was not part of the early days of Dianetics and Scientology. Auditing was composed of conversation and not led by a mechanical device. Hubbard introduced an E-meter prototype during the 1952 Philadelphia Doctorate Course but did not introduce his transistorized version until several years later. The E-meter became "the principal material artifact" of Dianetics and Scientology from the 1960s onward.


title: E-meter

text: Though it seemed for a while that Scientology's more advanced techniques would serve without an E-meter, a few months later in May 1955, Hubbard wrote:


title: E-meter

text: The Scientology meter was smaller, based on transistors rather than vacuum tubes, and powered by a low-voltage rechargeable battery rather than line voltage.


title: E-meter

text: From then on, the E-meter was a required tool for Scientology ministers. The "Hubbard Mark II" E-meter was christened in 1960 and the Hubbard Mark III shortly after. On December 6, 1966, Hubbard won a patent on the Mark V version under the name "Hubbard Electropsychometer". Corydon wrote that the Hubbard E-meter was actually developed by Scientologists Don Breeding and Joe Wallis, though the patent () does not list other developers.


title: E-meter

text: Corydon's account was said to be based on the memoirs of Hubbard's son, Ronald DeWolf, but in 1987, DeWolf sued the publisher to prevent publication and swore an affidavit repudiating everything in the book.


title: E-meter

text: The Scientology E-meter has been redesigned and re-patented several times since its first introduction to Dianetics (e.g.: , , ).


title: E-meter

text: In 1969, Scientology was accepted as a religion by the Court of Appeal and declared that the E-meter was useful in "bona fide religious counseling". District Court Judge Gesell, while denying medical validity to the device, returned the e-meter to the Church. All e-meters from this point forward had to be inscribed with a disclaimer that it was not for medical or scientific diagnoses, treatment or prevention of any disease. The church reformulated the disclaimer into: "The Hubbard electrometer is a religious artifact. By itself, this meter does nothing. It is for religious use by students and Ministers of the church in Confessionals and pastoral counseling only."


title: E-meter

text: EDA meters are used in both therapist-patient and bio-feedback settings. EDA is one of the factors recorded by polygraphs, and EDA meters are often used in human studies to gauge psychological responses.


title: E-meter

text: E-meters are used in Scientology and Dianetics by Scientology ministers known as "auditors". Scientology materials traditionally refer to the subject as the "preclear", although auditors continue to use the meter on subjects who are well beyond the "clear" level. The auditor gives the preclear a series of commands or questions while the preclear holds a pair of cylindrical electrodes ("cans") connected to the meter, and the auditor notes both the verbal response and the activity of the meter. Auditor training includes familiarization with a number of characteristic needle movements, each with a specific significance. Religion scholar Dorthe Refslund Christensen describes the e-meter as "a technical device that could help the auditor locate engrams and areas of change when auditing a preclear".


title: E-meter

text: Scientology concepts associated with the E-meter and its use are regarded by the scientific and medical communities as pseudoscience, and the E-meter has never been subjected to clinical trials as a therapeutic tool.


title: E-meter

text: Scientologists claim that in the hands of a trained operator, the meter can indicate whether a person has been relieved from the spiritual impediment of past experiences. In accordance with a 1974 federal court order, the Church of Scientology asserts that the E-meter is intended for use only in church-sanctioned auditing sessions; it is not a curative or medical device. The E-meters used by the Church were previously manufactured by Scientologists at their Gold Base facility, but now are manufactured in Hong Kong and Taiwan.


title: E-meter

text: The Church claims that the E-meter can be used to assess the emotion charge of single words, whole sentences, and questions, as well as indicating the general state of the subject when the operator is not speaking. Few users of the E-meter claim that it does anything to the subject. To most, it does no more than suggest to the operator a change of mental, emotional, or parasympathetic nervous state or activity.


title: E-meter

text: New religious movement scholar Douglas Cowan writes that Scientologists cannot progress along the Bridge to Total Freedom without an E-meter, and that Hubbard even told Scientologists to buy two E-meters, in the event that one of them fails to operate. According to anthropologist Roy Rappaport, the E-meter is a ritual object, an object that "stand[s] indexically for something intangible".


title: E-meter

text: One of E-meter's primary components is a Wheatstone bridge, an electrical circuit configuration invented in 1833 that enables the detection of very small differences between two electrical impedances (in this case, resistances). The E-meter is constructed so that one resistance is the subject's body and the other is a rheostat controlled by the operator. A small voltage from the battery is applied to electrodes held in the subjects hands. As the electrical properties (electrodermal activity) of the subject's body changes during the counseling, the resulting changes in the small electric current are displayed in needle movements on a large analog panel meter. The dial face is without numbers because the absolute resistance in ohms is relatively unimportant, while the operator watches primarily for characteristic needle motions. The voltage applied to the electrodes is less than 1.5 V, and the electric current through the subject's body is less than a half a milliampere.


title: E-meter

text: In the Scientology E-meter, the large control, known as the "tone arm", adjusts the meter bias, while a smaller one controls the gain. The operator manipulates the tone arm to keep the needle near the center of the dial so its motion is easily observed. A simple E-meter powered by direct current, such as that used by the Scientologists and the like, displays several kinds of electrodermal activity (EDA) on the one dial without distinction, including changes in conductance, resistance, and bioelectric potential. Researchers in psychophysiology are also exploring admittance and impedance aspects of EDA that can be observed only with alternating current.


title: E-meter

text: The E-Meter, measuring variations in electrodermal activity (which can be highly responsive to emotion), functions on the same physiological data sources as one of the parts of the polygraph, or “lie detector”. According to Scientology doctrine, the resistance corresponds to the "mental mass and energy" of the subject's mind, which are claimed to change when the subject thinks of particular mental images (engrams). One account tells about Hubbard using the E-meter to determine whether or not fruits can experience pain, as in his 1968 assertion that tomatoes "scream when sliced".


title: E-meter

text: The traditional theory of EDA holds that skin resistance varies with the state of sweat glands in the skin. Sweating is controlled by the sympathetic nervous system, Because sweat contains electrolytes (salt, etc.), conductivity is increased when the sweat glands are activated. But some advocates argue that the meter responds more quickly than would be possible by the exudation and drying of sweat. They propose an additional mechanism termed the "Tarchanoff Response" through which the cerebral cortex of the brain affects the current directly. This phenomenon is not completely understood, and further research needs to be performed.


title: E-meter

text: The medical establishment had been watching Hubbard's enterprises since 1951 when the New Jersey State Board of Medical Examiners prosecuted the Hubbard Dianetic Research Foundation (Elizabeth, New Jersey) for practicing medicine without a license. In 1958, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) seized and destroyed 21,000 Dianazene tablets from Hubbard's Distribution Center, Inc., charging that they were falsely labeled as a treatment for radiation sickness.


title: E-meter

text: On January 4, 1963, in service of an FDA complaint, more than 100 US marshals and deputized longshoremen with drawn guns raided the Founding Church of Scientology in Washington, D.C. and confiscated more than three tons of property including 5,000 books, 2,900 booklets, and several hundred E-meters. The FDA accused the Church of making false medical claims that the E-meters could treat physical and mental illnesses. The FDA also charged that the meters did not bear adequate directions for treating the conditions for which they were recommended.


title: E-meter

text: The Church claimed that they had not written any publication that the E-meter could or would heal anything, and sued to get the property back. Years of litigation ensued. In the first trial beginning on April 3, 1967, the jury found that the Church misrepresented the E-meter and the judge ordered the confiscated materials destroyed. But in 1969, the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia reversed the verdict; the Church, it said, had made substantial showing that Scientology is a religion and the government had done nothing to rebut the claim. The US Court of Appeals wrote:


title: E-meter

text: Having found that Scientology was a religion, the Court wrote that the government was forbidden by the First Amendment of the Constitution to rule on the truth or falsity of the Church's doctrines and interfere with its practices, provided the claims are not manifestly insincere and the practices are reasonably harmless. The Court ordered a new trial with the mandate that the trial court could not forbid auditing, use of the E-meter, or purveyance of the literature within a religious context. The FDA appealed the decision, but in 1969, the US Supreme Court declined to review the case, commenting only that "Scientology meets the "prima facie" test of religion". In his 1973 judgment, District Court Judge Gerhard Gesell ruled that:Unable to do more under the mandate from the Court of Appeals, Judge Gesell ordered all the property to be returned to the Church, and thereafter, the E-meter may be used only in ""bona fide" religious counseling". All meters and referring literature must include a label disclaiming any medical benefits:


title: E-meter

text: The church adopted a modified version of that statement, which it still invokes in connection with the E-meter. The current statement reads:


title: E-meter

text: Judge Gesell also ordered the Church to pay all the government's legal fees and warehousing costs for the confiscated property for the nine years of litigation. He also required the church to pay the salaries and travel expenses of FDA agents who might, from time to time, inspect for compliance with the court's order. The raid was ruled illegal, but the government retained copies of the documents.


title: E-meter

text: In 1979 in Sweden, a court forbade calling the E-meter "an invaluable aid to measuring man's mental state and changes in it" in an advertisement. The prohibition was upheld by the European Commission of Human Rights in case "X. and Church of Scientology v. Sweden".


title: E-meter

text: In October 2009, a three-judge panel at the Correctional Court in Paris, France convicted the church and six of its members of organized fraud. The Court's decision followed a three-week trial, where two plaintiffs alleged they were defrauded by the organization. One plaintiff's complaint involved the use of an E-Meter by Scientologists with medical implications. This plaintiff claimed that, after being audited with the device, she was encouraged to pay tens of thousands of euros for vitamins, books, and courses to improve her condition. She argued that amounted to fraud. The Court agreed, and the ruling was upheld on appeal in 2013. See .


title: E-meter

text: In 1964, the government of Victoria, Australia held a Board of Inquiry into Scientology which returned its findings in a document colloquially known as the Anderson Report. Psychiatrist Ian Holland Martin, honorary federal secretary of the Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, gave evidence that the E-Meter "used for Scientology" was a "psycho-galvano-meter" and was "dangerous in unqualified hands". He said that if the E-meter "was suggested to possess mysterious powers" to someone who did not understand that it had "been thoroughly discredited as a lie detector" then "that person would be suggestible to ideas foisted on him by the operator". The final report of the inquiry stated that the E-meter enabled Scientology


title: E-meter

text: In 1965, Victoria banned the use of the E-meter without a license, with Western Australia and South Australia following suit. In 1969, the High Court of Western Australia ruled the ban illegal. South Australia repealed its law in 1973, and Victoria repealed it in 1982. In 1983, the High Court of Australia ruled that Scientology was a religion, and as such had the same rights and protections.


title: E-meter

text: Within the Church of Scientology, the early psychoanalysts are credited with first use of the E-meter.


title: E-meter

text: Hubbard credited Mathison with recreating the E-meter and bringing him the first model for use in Dianetics. Hubbard set out his theory of how the E-meter works in his book "Understanding the E-Meter":


title: E-meter

text: Hubbard claimed that this "mental mass" has the same physical characteristics, including weight, as mass as commonly understood by lay persons:


title: E-meter

text: This text in "Understanding the E-Meter" is accompanied by three drawings. The first shows a man standing on a weighing scale, which reflects a weight of "150" (the units are not given). The next shows the man on the same scale, weighed down under a burden of "Mental Image Pictures", and the scale indicates a weight of "180". The last picture shows the man standing upright on the scale, now unburdened by "Mental Image Pictures" and with a smile on his face, while the scale again indicates a weight of "148".


title: Ross Bagdasarian

text: Ross S. Bagdasarian (; January 27, 1919 – January 16, 1972), known professionally by his stage name David Seville, was an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actor, best known for creating the cartoon band Alvin and the Chipmunks. Initially a stage and film actor, he rose to prominence in 1958 with the songs "Witch Doctor" and "The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)", which both became "Billboard" number-one singles. He produced and directed "The Alvin Show", which aired on CBS in 1961–62.


title: Ross Bagdasarian

text: Bagdasarian was born on January 27, 1919, in Fresno, California to an Armenian-American Family. He had two elder brothers: Richard Sirak (1910–1966) and Harry Sisvan (1915–1989). The novelist William Saroyan was his first cousin, to whom he was very close.


title: Ross Bagdasarian

text: Bagdasarian graduated from Fresno High School in 1937. During World War II, he served four years as a control tower operator and rose to the rank of a staff sergeant (SSgt) in the Army Air Forces. His later stage name "David Seville" originated from the fact that he was stationed in the city of Seville in Spain.


title: Ross Bagdasarian

text: Bagdasarian's Broadway debut was in 1939 when he played the newsboy in "The Time of Your Life" by William Saroyan, his cousin. He also appeared in minor roles in several films, such as "Viva Zapata!" (1952), "Stalag 17" (1953), "Destination Gobi" (1953), "Rear Window" (1954), and "The Proud and Profane" (1956). Notably, in Alfred Hitchcock's "Rear Window", he is the piano player. In "Stalag 17", he sings "I Love You" in a pivotal scene at the POW Christmas Party.


title: Ross Bagdasarian

text: Bagdasarian's major success with songwriting came with "Come On-a My House". Originally recorded by Kay Armen in 1950, it was turned into a million-selling hit in 1951 by Rosemary Clooney released by Columbia Records. It is an adaptation of an Armenian folk song Bagdasarian wrote with his cousin William Saroyan. The song was originally composed for their off-Broadway musical "The Son". It launched Clooney's career, reaching number one on "Billboard" charts and was number four on


title: Ross Bagdasarian

text: "Billboard" year-end top 30 singles of 1951. The song sold some 750,000 records in a month. In 1954, he wrote "Hey, Brother, Pour the Wine", a hit for Dean Martin.


title: Ross Bagdasarian

text: In 1955 Bagdasarian signed with the then newly established Liberty Records. In early 1956 he had a transcontinental hit with the novelty record "The Trouble with Harry" (inspired by the homonymous Hitchcock film) credited to Alfi & Harry, although Alfi & Harry was just one person, Bagdasarian himself. It reached No. 44 on the "Billboard" chart and was a bigger hit in the United Kingdom reaching No. 15. In December 1956, he charted with his first record credited to his David Seville pseudonym, "Armen's Theme" which reached No. 42 on the "Billboard" chart.