Keith Henson, Scientology critic, arrested in "Tom Cruise" missile case [fs]

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

Keith Henson, an engineer, writer, programmer, and critic of Scientology 
was arrested on Friday:
http://freekeithhenson.blogspot.com/'

He had been convicted in 2001 on some bizarre charges of threatening 
Scientology that grew out of a Usenet post and his picketing:
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,43420,00.html

At which time he fled to Canada and sought asylum, but subsequently 
returned to the states:
http://www.politechbot.com/p-02072.html
http://www.politechbot.com/p-02122.html

After interviewing his defense counsel and a prosecutor today, I wrote 
an article that you can find here:
http://news.com.com/2100-1030_3-6156516.html

R.U. Sirius' writeup is also thorough:
http://www.10zenmonkeys.com/2007/02/04/scientology-fugitive-arrested/
http://www.10zenmonkeys.com/2007/02/05/a-reprint-of-an-interview-with-keith-henson-by-ru-sirius-2/

Scientology's position paper on copyright they sent to Politech a few 
years ago:
http://www.politechbot.com/p-03917.html
http://www.politechbot.com/p-03929.html

And some background on Scientology:
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Fishman/time-behar.html
http://www.spaink.net/fishman/home.html

For background, I'll include part of the Usenet thread about the "Tom 
Cruise" missile below.

-Declan

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Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology
From: F... () SkepticTank ORG (Fredric L. Rice)
Date: 2000/07/10
Subject: Re: "Gold Base" French-German ICBM / Tom Cruise Missle Coordinates

Keith Henson <hkhen... () netcom9 netcom com> wrote:
>Patrick Volk <pjv... () home com> wrote:
>snip
>> The range of a Pluton MRBM = [Deleted for purpose of national
>> security]
>> CEP on the platform = [Deleted for purpose of national security],
>> although I imagine probably around 750 yards.
> No way.  Modern weapons are accurate to a matter of a few tens
> of yards. The terminal guidence ones are good to single digits.

You're using the dumbed-down GPS for that, though, aren't you?  The
military GPS resolution is going to give you an impact point within
_feet_ of the desired destination point, isn't it?  And even if not,
with Keith Henson up on the hill providing on-target IR illumination,
GPS won't even be needed.  }:-}

---
                
Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology
From: pjv... () home com (Patrick Volk)
Date: 2000/07/11
Subject: Re: "Gold Base" French-German ICBM / Tom Cruise Missle Coordinates
On Sun, 09 Jul 2000 22:09:02 GMT, nos... () holysmoke org (Shy David

...
>Cult Compound Guard House
> 33N50.021
>116W59.274
...

.. meanwhile, back at HQ
*gets out slide rule*

The range of a Pluton MRBM = [Deleted for purpose of national
security]
CEP on the platform = [Deleted for purpose of national security],
although I imagine probably around 750 yards.

Hey, wait... is that a French flag on that new weather station outside
of gold base?

Hmm... Says here the French government has just purchased 3 square
miles of territory from the Mexican government for an escargot farm in
Baja California.

And they've asked for some cleared airspace between there and Gold
Base... to test the Concorde.. Hmm... I'll have to check what C3I
has..

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Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology
From: Keith Henson <hkhen... () netcom9 netcom com>
Date: 2000/07/11
Subject: Re: "Gold Base" French-German ICBM / Tom Cruise Missle Coordinates
Reply to author | Forward | Print | Individual message | Show original | 
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Patrick Volk <pjv... () home com> wrote:

snip

> The range of a Pluton MRBM = [Deleted for purpose of national
> security]
> CEP on the platform = [Deleted for purpose of national security],
> although I imagine probably around 750 yards.

No way.  Modern weapons are accurate to a matter of a few tens of yards.
The terminal guidence ones are good to single digits.

Keith Henson

---

Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology
From: pjv... () home com (Patrick Volk)
Date: 2000/07/11
Subject: Re: "Gold Base" French-German ICBM / Tom Cruise Missle Coordinates

>You're using the dumbed-down GPS for that, though, aren't you?  The
>military GPS resolution is going to give you an impact point within
>_feet_ of the desired destination point, isn't it?  And even if not,
>with Keith Henson up on the hill providing on-target IR illumination,
>GPS won't even be needed.  }:-}

With a MRBM, it's about the equivilant of standing on top of the
Empire State Building, and hawking a lugie into a shot glass on the
street below.

  I was reckoning that the French haven't improved their platform
stability to that point. Not to mention, if the CoS were to do a
high-altitude EMP burst....

  Plus, I like Keith too much to have him on a hill within 2 miles of
a site where 300 kilotons of hurt is gonna rain down... Keith, if
you're gonna be there... Get the SPF 8000 sunblock... and some
sunglasses. :)
[btw: Deleted for reasons of national security = I don't know, and
didn't feel like checking the Organization of American Scientists site
for the details]

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