Tom Cruise, Scientology, I don’t get it

I’ve been hearing a lot about the newest war going on: Internet Nerds vs. Scientology.  Being an internet nerd myself, I felt compelled to see what seemed to set things off in the first place… the infamous Tom Cruise video.  Supposedly the movie was removed from YouTube, but you can still view it on Gawker here.  So I checked it out and my opinion….

What’s the big deal?!

Yes, Tom Cruise sounds like an idiot, but what else is new?  I don’t find this video particularly frightening, like everyone said it was.  I’m not scared of Scientology either, and frankly I don’t give a shit what those people do any more than I care about what any other religious group does.  Sure there is evidence of Scientology ruining and/or taking the lives of both its followers and it’s critics, but how exactly is that different from Christianity or Islam, for example?! 

Tom Cruise babbling on and on about how great Scientology is and about how he knows all the answers and can cure people with his beliefs is no different from a Christian talking about how they ‘know’ God is watching over them and guiding them, and how people think prayer can actually cure illness, etc.  And as far as people killing themselves and/ or being killed and those deaths being linked to Scientology allow me to remind you of The Crusades and Suicide Bombers!  Of course not all Christians and Muslims are out there doing bad things, but not all Scientologists are like Tom Cruise!

I don’t care if people wage some kind of internet attack on Scientology, and I don’t care if Tom Cruise is an idiot -what else is new?  You would be wacked too if you had billions of dollars, lived in a celebrity bubble, and weren’t taking your meds!  And if we’re going to start criticizing religions and splitting hairs over what’s a cult and what’s a religion then I think we should be fair and include everyone.

You’re allowed to believe what you want, and as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone I don’t care if you believe in God or Time Cube or The Wonders- it’s your business.  BUT, to blacklist Scientology and it’s followers for killing people, hurting people, being weird, etc. let’s be fair and hold EVERY OTHER RELIGION to the same standard as well- because last time I checked, most main stream, accepted religions are guilty of the exact same thing as Scientology is.  How about that?  No, not every religious follower/ cult member is guilty of killing or hurting or even being weird, but I’m pretty sure every religion has some of that nasty stuff in its past and/or present.

Below are the results of a scientific study I did all by myself.  It compares Scientology with a widely accepted religion, in this case Christianity.  The ‘X’ means ‘yes.’

	Scientology	Christianity
Takes Billions of Dollars From Followers Each Year	X	X
Is Responsible for Countless Deaths of Followers and/or Critics	X	X
Followers Think Their Beliefs are the Only ‘Right’ Beliefs	X	X
Claim to Have Healing Abilities (through prayer, knowledge, help from a higher power, etc.)	X	X
Excuses Bad Behavior When it’s Done in the name of said Religion	X	X

So you’re allowed to believe what you want and belong to whatever religious group you want, but let’s just keep in mind that religion makes people do crazy things- things that are sometimes very wrong and sometimes very creepy.  So I don’t understand why Scientology is apparently so awful when there are countless other belief systems out there that are guilty of the same things Scientology is getting shunned for.  It’s all stupid if you ask me. 

Respect for Heath Anyone?

We all know Heath Ledger died the other day, but I’m really sickened that the details of his death that are being repeatedly shared on the news, internet, talk shows, etc.  Is nothing sacred?  Can’t they just say he died, and when the autopsy comes back tell us either yes or no to the drug overdose suspicions?  Why are they sharing information about how they found him, who found him, what was found in his room, etc.?!  Does that strike anyone else as wrong and disrespectful to him and his family?  I wont even bother repeating all the details, because I’m sure everyone has heard them already.  I just think that some things are personal, and your physical state and placement when you are found dead is one of them. 

Marc Emery- Important for Pot heads!!

If you live in Canada, you may have heard of Marc Emery, the Prince of Pot.  If you live in the United States you may have heard of him too, although when I am in the US I never see any news coverage about him, 60 minutes did a show but that’s about it.

Anyway, Marc Emery is a Canadian Marijuana activist.  He opened Hemp BC in Vancouver, and also started Pot TV.  He is very passionate about legalizing marijuana and what’s not to love about that?  Read more about him here.

Anyway, along with his other accomplishments, Emery also sold marijuana seeds online.  In 2005, the United States DEA went into Canada and closed down Emery’s shop and seed business.  The United States went into Canada and enforced US LAW in CANADA???!!  YES!  Because, seeds were sold to customers in the United States.

Since then, Emery has been facing a possible life term in prison(under US law)- and today accepted a plea deal that would result in him spending 5-10 years in prison.  He did this to (obviously keep him out of a life term) AND to keep his two colleagues from having to serve sentences as well- one of his fellow activists who faced jail time has Crohn’s disease, and uses the drug to alleviate symptoms.  Just like millions of chronically ill people could benefit from.  I think if your condition is chronic, you should get a little chronic.

But what is wrong with this picture?  If you are a fellow pot head, you have probably come across a seed or two in your day.  Now, what would a weed lover do with a wayward seed?  Plant it!  And then you get a little sprout and your practically selling your crop already, and then you wake up 3 days later and your precious little sprout is flopped over dead.  It’s f-ing hard to grow pot!  You need a specific set-up and even the most basic equipment can be expensive.  So my guess is that over half of the US customers were probably stoners like me who think pot is as easy to grow as a Chia Pet, and produced no crop from these illegal seeds.  But does the United States care?  No, because the government refuses to recognize that pot is not on the same level as heroin and as usual, we make it our job to stick our nose in the business of other countries.  So I guess we’d rather import weed instead of have it grown at home.

I am outraged that Marc Emery has to serve jail time at all, what a criminal!  Rapists serve less time than him!  And I’m outraged that we are living in this nightmare world where alcohol and cigarettes are legal and BOTH can kill you, but a PLANT that is never fatal, is not addictive, and has no negative health effects is treated like a WMD. 

No wonder kids are dying from things like huffing and the choking game, Jesus if they had a couple joints on hand like normal teenagers are supposed to we wouldn’t have all these freaky accidents!  MySpace wouldn’t run their young lives and video games wouldn’t be turning young men into owl-eyed, nocturnal, I-can’t-change-a-flat-but-I-can-work-a-machine-gun-in-halo, and girls into catty text-messaging Paris Hilton carbon copies (Paris smokes pot though, but I couldn’t think of anything else).  And adults could fucking relax once in a while instead of filling their time with work/tv/work/tv.  People could have a reason to get together and visit, instead of living isolated lives and only getting together for holidays. 

“Hey Neighbor, want to pop into my garage and want to help me smoke this joint?”

“Sure, I just got home from work and would love to experience human interaction instead of watching television until bed.  Crimeny, I just spend 8 hours staring at a computer and truthfully, I’m lonely.  My kids spent all night in their rooms watching tv, text-messaging, going on MySpace and huffing spraypaint.  And my wife just watches reality tv while drinking wine from a box.  When she isn’t doing that she’s busy buying the latest sheet set from the Martha Stewart collection.  I really don’t see my family at all, and we don’t laugh together anymore.”

“Well” says the joint-providing neighbor as they proceed into his garage, “my family used to have the same problem, and while my wife still has the occassional box of wine and my kids still have cybersex on MySpace with men my age, I have found solace in this special time I like to call After-Work-Daddy’s-In-The-Garage-Hour.  My family knows they can come into join me, and sometimes my wife does and we laugh and talk about funny things and split a bag of Doritos, it’s really helped our relationship”

“Wow, that sounds wonderful, perhaps I’ll occassionally do the same, it’s not that expensive and it’s not bad for you, and if it encourages interaction with me and my family then why wouldn’t I try it?” 

“You know, Neighbor, we live in a lonely world, and sometimes I think this little plant” (motioning to a small terrarium with 1 pot plant thriving) “is the only thing that truly helps me relax while living in this problem ridden society”

BOOM BOOM BOOM- garage door blows off it’s tracks- men wearing gas masks and weilding maching guns and shields burst in and immediately taser Neighbor and Neighbor with Joint.  Both men are currently serving 9 years in jail.

The End

JUST LEGALIZE IT ALREADY YOU FOOLS!  CANADA IS GETTING CLOSE, THE UNITED STATES NEEDS TO WAKE UP AND GET ITS PRIORITIES IN ORDER.

I guess I’ll go drink a liter of vodka and smoke a carton of cigarettes now, totally legal, totally acceptable.  Fucking backwards.

Media Sluts

Censored Stories of 2007

This website tells you about the stories your favorite news programs decided to omit.  I guess Paris Hilton going to jail, fires in Malibu, and popular YouTube videos were deemed more important. 

Television is OWNED by a handful of corporations, thanks to the hushed Telecommunications Act of 1996.  Because of this act, big companies like Disney, Viacom, General Electric, and Turner Broadcasting were able to buy up EVERY network.  Every channel is coming from one of eight sources.  This is fact.  This maybe would not be a big deal, except that these large corporations have decided to play politics, and filter out stories that might cast a bad light on what they support.  I don’t have a problem with real Republicans, but many of the people running these huge Media Corporations have ties to ‘neo-cons’ and crooket officials (I won’t bother listing names, you know who they are). 

So if you want to hear REAL news… stories that should concern us, check out the above site.  The news is supposed to be unbiased and objective, and politically neutral.  We should not have “conservative” and “liberal” stations.  We should have unfiltered true news.  Not the handpicked fluff these broadcasters are deciding to show us.

Another good site for real news is The Centerfor Public Integrity.  This news source is run by an ex CNN boss… who got tired of all the censorship and left CNN.

This is not conspiracy theory… these are real stories that we just didn’t hear about.