Celebrity Center - Happy 37th Anniversary

The Church Celebrity of Scientology Celebrity Centre is set to celebrate their 37th anniversary this coming weekend. Already the grounds are undergoing their yearly transformation. It is always a beautiful spot, but for their Gala they turn it into a someing really magical. This is a photo of the event as it was set up two years ago when David Miscavige gave his speech "This is Scientology"

Calcutta -- Scientology Volunteer Ministers Goodwill Tour

Interesting article on the Scientology Newsroom about the seminar Scientology Volunteer Ministers are giving to civil defense trainers in Calcutta.

The population of this city has 3Xed since 1961 from 4 million to over 12 million people today and this has put tremendous strain on facilities.

This Civil Defense training, based on the Scientology Handbook is very humane with tools defense teams can use to help people in times of disaster.

Scientology Anti-Drug Campaign

There are new booklets available online now at www.notodrugs-yestolife.org
If you need help explaining about drugs to your friends (or to your kids) look these over. I think you will find them really helpful.

Volunteer Ministers in Disaster Zones

I saw this posting tonight on http://www.blogstudio.com/premierexec/ and I must say, I hadn't thought about the downside of volunteering in disaster zones before.

What she said was:

Imagine, flying out to a country far away from home (most of the volunteers were from Australia but they came from as far away as Sweden and the United States) that has just been devastated, with a million and a half people homeless. Even just finding a place to stay would be an incredible challenge. You don't think about it, but relief workers are living life in the raw. If the food and water is contaminated by the destruction of infrastructure that would provide for sanitation, guess who's eating the same food?

Then add to that what it takes to just go into a hospital and see the thousands and thousands of injured people, lying on matresses and even just on cardboard on the concrete floors of the hospital parking structures, and how about the desparate people who don't know how to help their injured family members?

That's what you don't necessarily hear about but that's what a volunteer has to face.

And these guys have done such an amazing job.

A few weeks ago David Miscavige, Chairman of the Board of Religious Technology Center, made a point of singling out the Scientolgy Volunteer ministers who went to Java and those who went to Queensland, Australia after Cyclone Larry, and commending them.

I watched Mr. Miscavige's speech at the Church of Scientology of Los Angeles two weeks ago and I thought, now these people really deserve that acknowledgment.

I have got to say my admiration for the guys who go to disaster zones has just gone up a whole level.

Down Under (and to the Side)

The Scientology Volunteer Ministers Goodwill Tour is in Auckland New Zealand, and is about to launch on a tour of most of the islands of the South Pacific.

I have some Kiwi (New Zealander) friends and to hear them talk about the country it is the best land on earth. The first Kiwi I knew was actually a Dutchman who had emigrated there, and you NEVER heard anyone more biased and chauvanistic toward that country than he was. He told me that the nickname for the country is "God's Own." If I'm to believe what I'm told, it has everything. Pleasant weather, never too cold; skiing in the mountains; swimming in the Ocean; the best dairy products, produce and lamb on earth....

But New Zealand has its problems - and one of them is the increase in drug use.

According to the Alcohol and Drug Association of New Zealand,

"The 35% increase in calls to the national Alcohol & Drug Helpline during the past year shows that alcohol and drugs increasingly affect our community, according to Cate Kearney, manager of the Alcohol Drug Association New Zealand (ADA) which runs the Helpline.'At the same time, there has been a noticeable increase in drug-related calls, which almost doubled over the past year,' she said."

The Scientology Volunteer Ministers Goodwill Tour has a terrific booklet on how to overcome drug dependency. Anyone with a friend of family member who is having trouble with drugs should get that booklet, which is a chapter of the Scientology Handbook because by using the information you can really give them a chance for a new life.

Mr. David Miscavige described the problem so aptly in his speech at the Church of Scientology Celebrity Centre, titled This is Scientology:

The answer to this planet’s problems will not be found in the “material.” Of this there can be no question. For if those solutions can’t prevent war nation to nation, how then can it be expected to answer questions like “love,” “happiness” or “peace of mind?” So, we can’t expect the answer to be found in chemicals. Not unless one buys into a synthesized utopia, or a “Brave New World,” with a perfect pleasure drug.

Yet that is precisely what we see in the world today, with multi-million dollar conglomerates providing a cornucopia of new pills as a panacea to all ills — making the pharmaceutical industry the most profitable business on the planet — more than banking, high finance, oil or computers. Common sense tells us it’s the wrong answer.

After all, it isn’t just mere coincidence that the arrival of those new drugs always coincide with the expiration of the last one’s patent. That’s a fact.

And when the success of the latest “feel good” pill is judged by profit, well don’t be surprised when happiness isn’t the result. After all, what then would happen with all those blue chip stocks?

As any businessman knows — good marketing strategy requires the constant outflow of new product. And besides, the statistics say it all — those pills are not working.

In addition to the work of the Scientology Volunteer Ministers, the Church has just announced a new anti-drug campaign that I, for one, think is terrific.

The last thing I want to see if for kids to be taken in by the pro-drug hype. I've seen far too many lives wrecked with drugs, and if that happens to even one kid, that's too many.

Here;s a suite where you can find out more about the Scientology anti-drug campaing

Human Rights Campaign

The Youth for Human Rights 2006 World Tour is now moving across Europe.

Here's a photo and story from their German visit:

Youth from the Berlin chapter of Youth for Human Rights International celebrated their freedom as part of the Youth for Human Rights International 2006 World Tour.

Although they are too young to remember the 27 years when the Berlin wall separated families and prevented East Germans from access to the West, these youngsters know that when the wall came down in 1989 that act became a symbol of freedom prevailing over oppression.

Youth for Human Rights and the Church of Scientology International have created 30 hard-hitting public service announcements (PSAs) to bring each of the 30 Articles of the Universal Declaration to life, to educate youth on their rights and responsibilities. Four of these PSAs were released in the German leg of the world tour including, appropriately, Article 9, which states:

No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.

The purpose of Youth for Human Rights International is: “To teach youth around the globe about Human Rights, thus helping them to become valuable advocates for the promotion of tolerance and peace.”

For there to be peace on earth reaquires the recognition and the upholding of Human Rights for all peoples. In alignment with the Aims of Scientology which are "A civilization without insanity, without criminals and without war, where the able can prosper and honest beings can have rights, and where man is free to rise to greater heights," Human Rights mus be made a fact. This is why the Church of Scientology International helped produce the Human Rights PSAs and why so many Scientologists are involved in getting them out broadly so everyone can see them and learn their rights.

Human Rights PSAs

I just watched some of the PSAs (public service announcements) that Youth for Human Rights and the Church of Scientology International and they are so moving and so beautiful I can hardly express the impact they had on me.

You can download the first 3 of them from I Tunes or see them at the Youth for Human Rights International web site

Richard Lowe's posting about the San Diego Wild Animal Park brings back fond memories.

My first visit there was in 1976 (good grief - 30 years ago almost to the day!) I was there on my honeymoon (of my first marriage) and I felt completely transported. I was no longer a few yards off Route 5 but on a cliff over veldt, watching gazells and wildebeast drinking from the stream, while lions lurked in the tall grasses.

Then to the shows -- they had the most fantastic bird show (believe me I'm NOT one for bird shows but this was great! Especially the bald eagle that was trained to grab a 5$ bill out of the hands of a man in back of the amphetheater and a vulture who "walked" across the stage (you've never seen anything as funny as a vulture walking. Of cource I guess a vulture could probably say the same thing about a human being flying).

Anyway - it does bring back fond memories, and it is probably by second favorite thing about San Diego ( my favorite being the Church of Scientology of San Diego ) ranking higher than the climate, the Tory pines on the cliffs overlooking the ocean, and the San Diego Zoo all of which are pretty high on my list of cool things.