New Australian Law Won't Solve the Problem

I was very concerned to read about the new law just passed :

It is billed as: "FEDERAL Parliament passed new laws giving Canberra unprecedented control over the lives of Northern Territory Aborigines, critics asked how much of the package was actually concerned with stopping the sexual abuse of children."

But in fact it wrests responsibility and authority from the family, further degrading the family unit. As such it can't help but cause more trouble. Australia has a long history of suppressing Aboriginal Australians. After centuries of destroying the culture are they surprised to find it has deteriorated?

A much better solution would be one of restoring self respect and cultural pride, such as a program based on The Way to Happiness.


A good, stable adult with love and tolerance in his heart is about the best therapy a child can have.~~~L. Ron Hubbard, founder of the Scientology religion

Should Parents Try to Teach their Kids to Drive?

There's a terrific video clip on the The Way to Happiness web site to illustrate the precept "Love and Help Children."




It brought back so many memories when I watched it.


(It is a vignette showing a dad teacher his daughter how to drive a car).



Click here to view other Public Service Announcements


I must say I admire the dad in this video clip. I can't say mine was much like him at all!

What is it about teaching people to drive a car that can bring out the worst in people? I remember this one time when I was a very young child and my father was teaching my mom to drive. He was constantly barking orders at her and she got completely confused. She was trying to learn to drive a standard shift car in a town with these hellacious hills--the kind where you need to ride with your emergency brake in order to start the car after you've stopped. She had all of us three kids in the back seat and my dad flaying her with constant barbs about her incompetence, and she finally stamped on the brake, got out and slammed the door (on an incline to die for).

I wouldn't let my father near me when it came to learning to drive! No thank you very much. I paid a professional who had no personal stake in the matter to teach me. I was smart. I wasn't sure who would have come out alive if I'd let my father try to teach me.

Anyway -- here's the video! If you click on the link under the video they have it set up for you to be able to copy the code onto your own blog or email it to a friend.

Hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

These were released last month by David Miscavige at an international Scientology event. They are starting to air now on national TV shows, and they exist in quite a few languages.

I have always loved this booklet because it is such a simple basic set of precepts and it really will help anyone live a happier life just by reading and applying it.

But now, with these videos, you can share it with anyone and it these video clips are so compelling, so expressive, so aesthetic that it makes it even easier to share them.


^{A good, stable adult with love and tolerance in his heart is about the best therapy a child can have.~~~L. Ron Hubbard, founder of the Scientology religion}

Avoiding Teenager "Disorder"

I suppose you could consider being a teenager as a disorder (marked by rebellion, doing things that are harmful or dangerous for fun, avoiding authority figures like parents and teachers and only caring about what their friends think of them). But giving it a name doesn't do anything to fix the symptoms or prevent the damage.

Sure they'll "get over it" eventually. That is, unless they get themselves into serious trouble in the meantime.

Ironic, isn't it, that about the time kids are most in need of parents' advice they find it hardest to talk to them?

As adolescents and teens start feeling the pressure from friends and media to be "cool" they do things they know they don't want their folks to find out about. And this starts the wedge that drives the relationship apart.

Once that starts, parents who really want to help their kids are up against a lot. But what if was "cool" to honor help your parents?

Just this one precept from The Way to Happiness by L. Ron Hubbard could go a long way to helping kids avoid getting into trouble or minimally doing things set will them back, like drugs, crime, slacking off or dropping out of school.


Click here to view other Public Service Announcements

These video clips on The Way to Happiness web site are public service announcements produced by the Church of Scientology International, and released three weeks ago by David Miscavige, Chairman of the Board of Religious Technology Center (ecclesiastical leader of the Scientology religion).

You can download them onto your blog.

Unhappy about the state of things? You can do something to change it by promoting these PSAs.

Check it out the PSA, and go here to copy the code onto your blog, or email it to your friends.


A good, stable adult with love and tolerance in his heart is about the best therapy a child can have.~~~L. Ron Hubbard, founder of the Scientology religion

Scientology Church Fights Drug Abuse

This story out of Cincinnati is just one of hundreds that occurred last week in Scientology churches around the world. Scientologists are passionate about helping people avoid the tragedy of addiction. This story appeared in the Cincinnati Enquirer.

The local Scientology Church, 215 W. Fourth St. downtown, joined the United Nations International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking on Monday by holding a drug education and activities day.

Adam Espayev, 10, a youth "Drug-Free Marshal" who lives downtown, swore in three new drug-free marshals.

Drug-Free Marshals are youngsters who take a 12-point pledge to stay drug-free and educate others about the benefits of leading a drug-free life, said Thalia Ghiglia, Director of Public and Community Affairs of the church.

The kids also visited the Cincinnati Fire Station at Central Avenue and Fifth Street and swore in several firefighters as Drug-Free Marshals.

The date was chosen by the 93rd plenary meeting of the United Nations General Assembly to express its determination to strengthen action and cooperation at the regional, national and international levels toward the goal of an international society free of drug abuse.

"This program is completely in alignment with the objectives of our anti-drug campaign, 'Say no to drugs, say yes to life,' " said Ghiglia.

For more information about the program, call Ghiglia at 513-238-6063

A good, stable adult with love and tolerance in his heart is about the best therapy a child can have.~~~L. Ron Hubbard, founder of the Scientology religion

On Mothers Day

QOTD asked today: If you could give an orphan a perfect mom what would she be like?

One just like : a very special friend I can always share things with, who, thinks the best of me and supports me no matter what happens.

It would be funny if...

I just watched this clip of John Sweeney-- the BBC reporter who is doing a show on Scientology this week.

The BBC has this "image" in the US of being reputable, respectable, conservative, trustworthy...so I was more shocked to see this than if it had been an American TV show (although in America I can't conceive of a reporter or investigative journalist being this unstable.)



When I watched this thing it reminded me of a man I knew once. When I realized how crazy he was I dumped the guy as soon as I could. I just can't understand how BBC could continue to employ a lunatic like this. Do you suppose they don't know about him? Well I guess they do now. This video is doing really well in YouTube.

Really shocking.

Harry's Coming!

I can't deny it. I'm a Harry freak.

And I just saw pictures from the movie that's coming out in July -- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. So, here's my pick of the best photos.

All I can say is it's a good thing the movie's coming out before the book, or I'd have to read the book on one sitting to finish it before going to the movie. This way I'll be able to take my time.

(Okay. Who's planning on cheating and reading the last chapter first? Not ME. I've sworn all my friends to secrecy too, not to let on what happens if they get there before me.)



Harry, en route to Hogwarts


Sirius Black


Crazy Luna

and Hermione.

Less than 3 months away!


A good, stable adult with love and tolerance in his heart is about the best therapy a child can have.~~~L. Ron Hubbard, founder of the Scientology religion

Good article on Associated Content on Tom Cruise's fundraiser for the New York Detox program.

I was delighted to hear he raised something like 1.3 million for the program. That means a lot more fire fighters, police and first responders who need the program will be able to take part in it. The whole program is free of charge to these people, and it basically gives them back their lives.


A good, stable adult with love and tolerance in his heart is about the best therapy a child can have.~~~L. Ron Hubbard, founder of the Scientology religion

Pharmalot: The New Face Of Antidepressants?

Another disturbing point

Pharmalot: The New Face Of Antidepressants?: "April 18, 2007
The New Face Of Antidepressants?



For the past three years, the controversy over antidepressants has largely centered on exploring links between the pills and suicidal behavior, particularly in youngsters. But there has also been considerable chatter about homicidal thoughts.

Several killings around the country have prompted defense lawyers to blame an antidepressant for a killing. Most famously, this occurred in South Carolina, where 12-year-old Chris Pittman claimed Pfizer's Zoloft prompted him to kill his grandparents. And one of the Columbine killers was prescribed Luvox.

Drugmakers deny such links. And antidepressants remain popular, because psychiatrists say depression can lead to suicide, possibly masking the affects one of these pills may have. And despite FDA black box warnings, many simply feel a potential benefit outweighs a potential risk.

Now, though, the Virginia Tech shooter, Cho Seung-Hui, may cause drugmakers a new round of grief over the antidepressants as reports surface that he was being treated for depression and had been prescribed a medication for psychological problems."

Is Psychiatry Responsible?

I found the footage of Cho's video that he sent in after the first 2 murders on Monday, particularly disturbing.

We expect our experts to be expert; to be able to produce a product. In our technological age if the software doesn't work, you hear incredible rants about it.

So how come we are so willing to excuse the incompetence of the psychiatric profession?

Is life just getting worse and that's why we have more horrific violent crime? I don't think so.

Read on:

Thoughts on the Rise of Mental Illness in America: "In an article titled 'Anatomy of an Epidemic: Psychiatric Drugs and the Astonishing Rise of Mental Illness in America' by Robert Whittaker (Cambridge MA), published in 'Ethical Human Psychology and Psychiatry', Volume 7, Number 1, Spring 2005, Mr. Whittaker begins:

'Over the past 50 years, there has been an astonishing increase in severe mental illness in the United States. The percentage of Americans disabled by mental illness has increased fivefold since 1955, when Thorazine — remembered today as psychiatry's first 'wonder' drug — was introduced into the market. The number of Americans disabled by mental illness has nearly doubled since 1987, when Prozac — the first in a second generation of wonder drugs for mental illness — was introduced . There are now nearly 6 million Americans disabled by mental illness, and this number increases by more than 400 people each day. A review of the scientific literature reveals that it is our drug-based paradigm of care that is fueling this epidemic. (emphasis mine - ed.) The drugs increase the likelihood that a person will become chronically ill, and induce new and more severe psychiatric symptoms in a significant percentage of patients.'"