Date: Sat, 06 Apr 2002 21:13:26 -0500
From: Steve Smith <sgs at aginc.net>
To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: German deadbeats
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>

ronkean at juno.com wrote:

> In many ways, Germany is more authoritarian than the U.S.  Germany
> persecutes the Church of Scientology; the U.S. gives it tax exemption.

In the US, essentially any bunch of nuts can call themselves a
"religion" and get a tax exemption.  Most of the world is stricter.  The
Germans looked at what the Church was actually doing, rather than what
the Church's official literature said.  The Germans said, basically,
"looks like a commercial enterprise to us!"

Scientology has been pitched out of a number of European countries, in
addition to Germany.

For more info than you probably want on Scientology (including the
hoohah with Germany), see http://www.clambake.org.

> According to what I was told by one German, unpaid creditors may get a
> lien on the personal possessions of a deadbeat.  The police come to the
> deadbeat's house and slap orange stickers on his sofa, TV, etc.  The
> stickers say the goods may not be moved or sold until the lien is
> satisfied.

Europeans have given up on debtors' prisons, but they're still rough on
deadbeats.  Even in the US, you don't want to get behind on your house,
car, or credit card payments.

--
Steve Smith                                           sgs at aginc.net
Agincourt Computing                            http://www.aginc.net
"Truth is stranger than fiction because fiction has to make sense."