Liberty

19 years ago, I gave my youngest daughter the name "Liberty" in part because I always liked the nickname "Libby" and in part because I truly believe that people should be free to do what they want -- as long as they don't actively harm others through their actions. The famous example of the limits of freedom of speech being that it doesn't give one the right to yell "Fire" in a crowded theater when there's no fire. Freedom of speech also doesn't give one the right to tell harmful lies about another.

The Federalist publishes a "Patriot Post" newsletter, which has the strong purpose of promoting freedom in America. It promotes the view that things are good which lead to freedom, and things are bad which seek to take away our freedoms.

The current popular consideration (it seems to me) is that freedom should consist of "freedoms from" such things as hunger, poverty, war, illness and various other unpleasantnesses of one kind or another. Freedom from being reminded that others have deep religious beliefs seem to be one of the "freedoms" that the ACLU is promoting, in their aggressive actions against the Boy Scouts of America and others who dare to include religious displays or actions as part of their daily lives.

My view is that the better definition of freedom is the "freedom to" do things, not the "freedom from" things. Otherwise a "freedom from" mentality sets in and you have the modern-day liberal, nanny-state, wanting freedom from a host of things that make up reality.

Here are some quotes from the Federalist today that got me thinking on this subject:

"By liberty I mean the assurance that every man shall be protected in doing what he believes is his duty against the influence of authority and majorities, custom and opinion." ---Lord Acton

"But to manipulate men, to propel them toward goals which you---the social reformers---see, but they may not, is to deny their human essence, to treat them as objects without wills of their own, and therefore to degrade them." ---Isaiah Berlin

My view, which is the view of a typical Scientologist is that life is a game, and that games consist of freedoms, barriers, and purposes. Without freedoms to do things, it's difficult to play a good game in life.

Enabling people to do things like study, get off drugs, run a successful business -- these are the things that Scientologists do that make a better life for everyone involved.

What's your view on freedom?

One Psychiatrist breaks ranks....

Dr. Douglass C. Smith, MD, board certified psychiatriest, has broken ranks with psychiatry. Here's his take on deadly psychiatric drugs. He says they "work" by impairing the brain from properly functioning, dampening feelings, and are harmful. If you've ever wondered how Cho and others could go into a school and start shooting, consider that the reason they are given psych drugs is to stop them from feeling anything -- such as remorse, or compassion, or pangs of conscience.

Psych Bust of APA Convention

The recent annual convention of the American Psychiatric Association drew hundreds of protesters with placards, showing their disapproval of psychiatric drugging of children, and other psych abuses.Here's a photo of my friend Tom Solari videotaping the protest activities.

Of course this protest was sponsored by the Citizens Commission on Human Rights, of which I've been a member since 1971. We think the drugging of children for profit, when those drugs have been proven to cause suicidal ideation, homicidal ideation, suicide and homicide (witness the many school shootings by those on psych drugs) is a VERY bad thing, definitely worth spending a weekend to make that point in front of the APA convention.

Front Sight Firearms Training Facility

One of my clients (Front Sight Firearms Training Institute) has gotten a lot of press since 9/11, for offering to train airline pilots in firearms safety, more recently for offering to train 100 Marines going to Iraq (at no charge to them) and for offering to train school safety officers as long as they are then allowed to have a concealed carry permit on campus.

Over the last couple of years working with him, I've realized that the founder of Front sight, Ignatius Piazza, is a brilliant marketer in the real world. Online, he counts on me to help him market his many sites:

• Front Sight Firearms Training Institute


• Ignatius Piazza - founder of Front Sight


• Ignatius Piazza blog site


• Front Sight - in Cybercast News Service


• Ignatius Piazza - in El Mercurio


• Ignatius Piazza - in Gun World


• Front Sight - in Gun Web


• Ignatius Piazza - in Handvapen Guiden


• Ignatius Piazza - in Las Vegas Sun


• Front Sight - in Los Angeles Times


• Ignatius Piazza - in San Francisco Chronicle


• Ignatius Piazza - in Small Arms Review


• Front Sight - in The Mail on Sunday Review


• Ignatius Piazza - in Times Democrat


• Front Sight - on BBC News


• Ignatius Piazza - in Chicago Tribune


• Front Sight - on CNN


• Ignatius Piazza - in Fort Worth Star Telegram


• Front Sight - in Guns & Ammo


• Ignatius Piazza - in Las Vegas Life


• Front Sight - in New York Times


• Ignatius Piazza - in Playboy


• Front Sight - in Satna Cruz Sentinel


• Front Sight - in US News & World Report


• Ignatius Piazza - in Washington Post


• Front Sight - in London Times


• Ignatius Piazza - in National Enquirer


• Front Sight - in Financial Times


• Ignatius Piazza - in Forbes Magazine


• Front Sight - in Black Belt Magazine


• Front Sight - in Sierra Times


• Ignatius Piazza - on Reform America


• Front Sight - in Icon Magazine


• Front Sight - in El Pais Seminal


• Front Sight - on USA Today


• Ignatius Piazza - in Las Vegas Mercury


• Front Sight - in Pajaronian Register


• Ignatius Piazza - on World Net Daily

Did I mention there were a lot of sites?

I'm planning a trip to Front Sight this fall to take a 4-day handgun training course. Bringing along my best gal, maybe my daughter.

Woohoo!

First Do No Harm....

The first rule of the Hippocratic Oath taken by new doctors when they are sworn into the profession is: "First, do no harm".

It's hard to reconcile that with the factual over-drugging of Americans, being done for the profit of and at the instigation of, the drug companies making drugs they have pushed through the FDA without adequate testing.

This came up because I just received this success story from one of Narconon's dedicated staff (also a graduate of their drug rehabilitation program), Patricia Bean-Meyer:

An angel delivered me to the doors of life!
My life was miserable. I had lost my husband and was soon to lose my children. I felt helpless. I was a clinical drug addict. My nightstand beside my bed held Xanax, Oxycontin, Lortabs, Somas, and some other kinds of sleeping pills. All prescribed to me by medical doctors.
At one time I had my own business. A beautiful family. Everything a person would want. But my life had turned into a living nightmare. I didn't eat food. I took drugs. I didn't clean my home. I shot up drugs. I didn't love my family. I didn't love myself. I was a wreck.
I made several reaches for help. Doors were slammed in my face. I was told I would always take medications. I could not come off all the meds without dying. Doctors told me this. Several rehabs turned me down, I was too addicted. Society turned its back on my screams and cries for help. What's the use, I'm doomed to live this life of misery. I overdosed on October 14th of 2004. My 6 year old daughter found me with no breath, no heart beat. She called for help.
Somehow, I made it through the night. I refused emergency services but agreed to go to the hospital with my father. Everything was such a blurr. The pain and anguish I saw in my father's eyes is something no parent should feel.
I was the true example of what clinical drugs can do to a human being. I was walking death. Just a body with no mind or spirit left. Narconon® accepted me. An angel delivered me to the doors of life.
I went through the program and I stayed to train. I am now a living, loving, productive human being. Narconon gave me the tools to remain clean, the tools to pick myself up and to keep myself out of danger.
My parents have a daughter. My sisters have a sister. My children have a mother. My future grandchildren have a grandmother, someone they can be proud of. Not a drug addict.
Narconon gave me back my will. My God did not condemn me to a life of drugs. I chose to do drugs.
My biggest win, is I'm helping in the war against drugs. I know within every cell of my existence that we can save lives from drug addiction. I have purpose.

Narconon Arrowhead Graduate, February 18, 2005
Story written May 2007

The great thing about the Narconon program is how many people who do their drug program then stay on to help others get through it, like Patricia. The other great thing about it is that they aren't addicted to a new drug -- about 70% of them stay clean for life, not needing to go back to rehab again.

Babies exposed to Prozac are damaged for life!

Babies exposed to Prozac are damaged for life:

"In conclusion, our results suggest that maternal exposure to
fluoxetine during pregnancy and lactation results in enduring
behavioral alterations in male and female pups throughout life.
Presumably, overstimulation of the serotonergic receptors during brain
development led to long-lasting changes in brain chemistry or
structure that resulted in abnormal behavior throughout life. "

Behavioral Evaluation of Male and Female Mice Pups Exposed to
Fluoxetine during Pregnancy and Lactation

Pharmacology
Vol. 80, No. 1, 2007

Someone should have warned Brooke Shields about that.

Australian Packer Wedding a Mystery?

It was nice to see the Daily Telegraph try to write a balanced piece about Australian James Packer's upcoming wedding.

While the Australians are in a dither over where and how Packer is to be married, and speculation is rife about the exact location (reportedly somewehre near the French Riviera), Americans haven't heard much about Packer. He's not on our celebrity radar here even though he's reportedly Australia's richest man, worth billions. Oh, well, I guess it would compare with Bill Gates or Donald Trump getting married; such things happen now and again, but I don't pay much attention to them.

The article did get one thing wrong, though, in that Scientology wedding ceremonies don't usually last an hour. More like half an hour, or less. It doesn't take that long to get through the vows. It really depends on which ceremony the betrothed pick to use; there are several versions to choose from among the Scientology religious rites.

When I was married, we asked our minister to use the vows that we came up with ourselves, but they were based on one of the normal Scientology ceremonies. Actually, I've been married twice using Scientology nuptials (the first time for 17 years) and both times the vows were slightly altered from what is in the Scientology ceremonies book. So there's some looseness about what exactly the vows contain.

For example, my first wife wanted to use one of the ceremonies but objected to one phrase (something about obeying - I can't recall exactly what) - so we just struck it out. She was way into women's lib at the time (hey, it was the 70's!), and the thought of "obeying" a man was repulsive to her. As I recall, the issue of obeying never came up in our marriage as I'm not one to give orders to my spouse anyway.

The other ceremonies in the Scientology ceremonies book are also great. I've attended Scientology funeral services (they help the people recover by having them say goodbye to the deceased), and as a Scientology minister myself, I delivered one Scientology funeral service for my mother when she died.

Even here in backwoods Oregon, when our ranch manager was killed in a logging accident, the Scientology funeral ceremony we performed at the local funeral home went very well for the hundred or so guests who came to honor her. It was very well received, with many compliments bestowed about how great it was, and no complaints after performing it. The ranch manager who died was a much-loved member of the local community, with many friends. The ceremony helped her community heal. Those at the funeral were gippo loggers, truck drivers, ranch owners, cowboys and drunks on their best behavior, some Jehovah's Witnesses and other church-going folk, and the relatives she left behind.

I was very thankful for the structure the funeral ceremony provided and for the Scientology technology of "assists" that we were able to provide for her relatives. Death is a hard blow to take, and the "loss of a person" assist is very helpful in coming to terms with that loss, easing the heartache some and making it possible to recover faster. Her mother was especially appreciative of the assists.

The other Scientology ceremony I really like is the "naming" ceremony, where a new baby is introduced to the church members and made aware of what his name is, and who his parents are. That one is always fun and very uplifting.

Psychiatric Coercion - a Form of Torture

This German newsletter, ZWANG (which believes that Coercive Psychiatry is a Torture System), is working hard to make sure that the coercive practices of psychiatry are labeled properly as torture in Germany.

Here's what the United Nations adopted as point #5 of its Universal Declaration of Human Rights:

Article 5 (prohibition of torture): No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

Psychiatry in Europe has been, in the last decade alone, exposed for its inhumane, animalistic, and barbaric treatment of psychiatric prisoners. In one instance, psychiatric prisoners were kept in cages around the clock -- the cage consisting of a mattress for a floor, and a wire enclosure no wider or longer than the mattress itself, surrounding it. The Citizens Commission on Human Rights exposed this and got the prisoners released and the psychiatric "hospital" closed down where these prisoners had been kept out of sight of the public.

The more you know about what psychiatry is actually doing in the world, the more incensed you will become at their abuses. Because people trust them to help, and then they abuse that trust by incarcerating, restraining, and in many cases drugging them with drugs that cause them to kill themselves or others.

Ultra Marathon

I've known JR Radich for many years. He is an ultra-marathoner, and in July will be running his seventh (!) 135 mile long Death Valley race, billed as the world's toughest footrace. Temperatures reach 125 degrees, and pavement can hit 180 degrees. Last year he finished 11th in the race, with a time that was nine hours better than his best previous time, from 2003.

JR makes this event a fundraiser for the Way to Happiness Foundation, with the theme that youth should make the right choices with "The Way to Happiness". He says,

This is a great purpose I strongly support and many of you over the years have pledged on my runs which is much appreciated. Our youth are our future. Gangs, drugs, intolerance, lack of common sense principles, all a threat to our youth today. TWTH is making big inroads on helping reverse this negative trend.

He also plans to run Mt. Whitney, 14,464 feet tall - tallest peak in the Continental US, and then reverse back across Death Valley unassisted (no support crew or vans following him), by pushing a baby jogger with all his water and supplies, another 135 miles back to Badwater, the lowest point in the Western Hemisphere, 282 feet below sea level. A total of 292 miles.
If you'd like to contribute to this WILD(!) venture, here's the address and phone:

The Way to Happiness Foundation
C/O The Death Valley Run
201 E. Broadway
Glendale, CA 91205
818-254-0555
jrultrarun@yahoo.com

Help him out!