Three U.S. congressmen and a high-ranking government official gathered this week to praise a man heralded for his morals and leadership. That man is L. Ron Hubbard and Texas Democratic Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, Indiana Republican Rep. Dan Burton, Illinois Democratic Rep. Danny Davis and Liz Gibson, Senior Program Manager at the Federal Emergency Management Agency, gathered to celebrate his legacy.
While European countries have either banned or prosecuted Scientology as a criminal enterprise and Hubbard was pursued by various criminal investigations and civil litigants, the VIPs joined in the opening of the new D.C. office (for full disclosure, I was invited to visit the opening of the headquarters but declined).
Jackson Lee declared “I want to thank L. Ron Hubbard for recognizing that courage is not rewarded but it is valued. And to be able to have the wonderment of people coming together and ensuring that people come together for peace. That’s what I see in the Church, that you have come together for peace. I welcome and support that,” she said.
Notably, both Burton and Davis praised the church’s campaign on child medication even though critics charge that this is an outgrowth of Hubbard’s hatred for psychiatry and psychology.
Many are likely to view this high-level support as problematic. Yet, even mainstream churches like the Catholic Church have been the subject of criminal and civil claims. Should these members be criticized for support of the Scientology record while others appear at other religious sites, including the support for faith-based politics and programs by the last four presidents?
Source: Daily Caller
I’m going to look into the facebook thing … better than telling a fib to my son-in-law.
I’ll email you both tomorrow when I’ve figured it all out.
Matt Johnson,
I’ve been having trouble all day … I have to keep clearing out my history and cache and then relaunching.
Blouise,
The poor kid is trying to do something nice for his mother-in-law—throw him a bone! Just let him think he convinced you—he doesn’t need to know about Scrabble… 😉
I like the geometry of billiards, but have issues with the hand-eye coordination part… As far as the mathematics of games go, I’m much happier with the applied probability in backgammon (or poker)—and blackjack until they started dealing short in long shoes… where’s the fun if you can’t beat the odds by counting cards?
raff,
It wasn’t my fault—I didn’t bring up the maffs this time… I just wanted a nice, friendly game of Scrabble with the ladies.
Maybe that isn’t problematic. For the last few hours kept getting the message server not available.
pete,
Wanna play? I was in the accelerated geometry class because it was the only one that fit into my music schedule. Me and 10 guys. They helped me cheat on every single test and I still only managed a “C”.
Keep getting the message server not available.
i’m trying to remember the last time i played backgammon. been about 20 years.
raff
i threw a book at my h/s geometry teacher
raff,
Sorry … you and I can play pool and get our angles all wrong. I suppose you have a smartphone. Everybody seems to.
Blouise,
Did you have to mention Geometry? The best three years of my life?
gbk,
backgammon, pretty well. Billards … fair to middlin’ (too much geometry, if you know what I mean) but I think Gene is really good at it.
Wanna join us in a meet up?
Slarti,
I’m all for a blog meet-up
Jeez, can’t even play a game anymore without divulging all your friends to a company that Sachs owns 40% of (at least before the facebook IPO) or having a smartphone?
Anybody play backgammon, billiards, or snooker?
Gene,
hey there buddy … step on Slarti, will you?
lotta and I loved your “compound function” … yeah, we talk about you behind your back.
Can you figure out a way we can all do Scrabble? You want to play too, right?
Blouise,
I’m always up for gaming, be it online or live!
I thought the idea of a blog meetup which was floated on Mike Spindell’s 9/11 thread was a good one…
I DON’T HAVE A SMARTPHONE OR A DATA PLAN!
My son-in-law keeps trying to buy me one and I keep resisting … how am I supposed to tell him I’ve changed my mind ’cause I want to play Scrabble???
I knew my ears were burning for some reason.
However . . .
I’ve never said proving intent was difficult.
Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn’t.
I have said that in most cases proving intent is irrelevant.
^..^ * many,
I don’t think you need to be on Facebook—you just have to have the Scrabble app on your smartphone (everyone has a smartphone, right? 😛 ) If you do that, just send me an email at (first name)@(last name).net and we’ll figure out how to start a game…
Kevin Kesseler
Swarthmore mom,
Can you send me an email, too—the chat on the Scrabble app sucks! (I like my full size keyboard… if brevity is the soul of wit then I’m a soulless half-wit or a witless soul or some such…)
lotta,
I wonder if there’s a way to join facebook that doesn’t compromise our security?
lotta and I are super-secret agents from, ah … Mars
Me either (social networking affiliations) … we’ll just have to meet on neutral territory and spend the weekend playing.
LOL, it would be my pleasure too but I can’t get there from here- I have no social networking affiliations.