The Church of Scientology is legendary for its thin-skinned reactions to criticism, but it would seem now that in England, at least, they have the force of law behind them. The UK Guardian reports today the case of a fifteen year old protester who voiced his opposition to the Church with a handmade sign was cited and will likely be hauled into court because police determined that his reference to the COS as a "cult" was "abusive and insulting." Although this story is already disturbing on simple first-amendment grounds, revelations in the story add a more sinister aspect to the story:

"The City of London police came under fire two years ago when it emerged that more than 20 officers, ranging from constable to chief superintendent, had accepted gifts worth thousands of pounds from the Church of Scientology."

In what is sure proof that the programmers of the matrix need to give the machine a swift kick, a 27 year old British man was sentenced today for assaulting the head of Britain's Jedi church. The assailant, dressed in a trash bag cape and yelling incoherently about Darth Vader, jumped a wall to beat the man with a metal crutch. Great Britain is home to nearly 400,000 self-proclaimed jJedis.