MaxChampion's Comments (118)

“Exactly. Coerced abortion itself has something for all sides to get angry about.”

“No, these are DIFFERENT allegations of torture and child abuse by scientology. Sheesh! ;)”

“This is a grave injustice. The judge has just created a martyr.”

“amazon pimped it on it's "Christian Books" email. What's with that?”

“Tom Cruise wasn't present when the alleged threat was made. So, he wouldn't know whether or not it was true. Rathbun has a very good record of people coming forward to confirm what he says.”

“Scientology punches above its weight in political circles. Consider this: Who is the treasurer of the National Foundation for Women Legislators? Scientologist and OTVIII, Bruce Wiseman, who just happens also to be the US President of CCHR, Scientology's anti-psychiatry front group. The Citizen's Commission on Human Rights was named in May by APA President Nada Stotland, M.D. as psychiatry's very own "hate group". http://www.medpagetoday.com/MeetingCoverage/APA/14276

The NFWL has several other scientologists and sympathisers on its committees. For more info: http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?y2mjldzmozd

If women legislators all across the US are listening to scientology, it's no wonder they're getting their agenda before the FDA and congress.”

“It was 1993.”

“When's the last time the Catholic Church had private investigators infiltrate a former staff member's life for 12 years?

When's the last time the Pope had a cardinal incarcerated under guard against his will until he agreed to stay a priest?

Details to support the comparison, please! And if you have to go back to the middle ages, then let's not consider that newsworthy. Scientology's current and recent crimes are.”

“Precisely!

And the Court of Appeals in California agrees with you. When Scientology argued that they were just expressing their religious freedom when they held Larry Wollersheim against his will and coerced him to disconnect from his family, etc, etc, etc, the court said there's a line. Religious practice that is coerced is not protected under the constitution.

http://web.lexis-nexis.com/research/retrieve?_m=ee35a51ff4aee73ba49385f3bd88e102&docnum=1&_fmtstr=FULL&_startdoc=1&wchp=dGLbVtz-zSkAB&_md5=3a6f35c6956c62aa245b11d4760a28a3”

“Tomorrow Don Jason's story of being held captive aboard a Scientology ship will be published. Larry Wollersheim tried to leave Scientology staff in 1974 and was held captive aboard a Scientology ship until he agreed to stay in Scientology: http://www.gerryarmstrong.org/50grand/legal/wollersheim/opinion-1989-07-18.html

Larry was finally paid $8.7million in damages in 2008 after 22 years of fighting Scientology in the courts.

One appeal court said:

"The "newly discovered evidence" alleged in the complaint consisted of the following: Post-trial interviews with jurors by the Church's attorneys revealed that "the jurors 'believed' that they were being followed by members of the [Church]." Juror Terri Reuter stated that "the jury had been told by 'unnamed court personnel,' whom she refused to identify, that during the trial, Judge Swearinger's tires had been slashed, and that his dog had been found dead. She said that the jurors attributed these actions to unknown and unnamed members of the [Church]." The complaint stated that Church counsel suspected that private investigators hired by Wollersheim's counsel "were responsible for 'dirty tricks' designed to implicate the Church, and prejudice the jury." Additionally, the complaint alleged that, because Judge Swearinger refused "to allow[] discovery into the jurors in order to establish the extent and source of the taint," "[t]he source of the jury's bias thus remained a mystery for five years.""

http://www.gerryarmstrong.org/50grand/legal/wollersheim/42cal.app.4th.628.html”

“thanks for posting about this very important, and very disturbing, set of reports about abuses by Scientology.

People often say they have no sympathy for people involved with the cult (adults, that is) because they can leave if they want to. It's just not that easy to leave Scientology. if you're on staff, and particularly if you're involved at any high level at all, they just don't let people go.

Marc Headley has just written about his escape in "Blown for Good". While researching it, he came across a police report about his escape. You'll notice that, even though the security team were chasing and assaulting him, Headley wouldn't complain to the police. The control runs very deep.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/12831004/Riverside-County-Sheriffs-Department-Police-Reports-regarding-Marc-Headleys-Escape”

“You'd get a lot more views and comments if the link on the front page led to this story instead of to the movieline piece.”

“And the Catholic Church doesn't hold members behind razor-bladed fences, make them work inhumane hours for 39 cents an hour pay, and coerce them into having abortions so that pregnancy doesn't interfere with their work for the "church". www DOT scribd DOT com/doc/15348562/1st-Amended-COMPLAINT-Laura-A”

“These are lovely people. Listening to them express themselves and say how humbled they are brings a warm and pleasant, even joyeous, feeling.

It strikes me that there are many, many people who equally deserve to health care without financial ruin and who aren't as "nice" as the Steins. They may never say thanks. Yet, a truly great society would care for those people too.”

“This is a great column. Kudos to your wife, Mike.”

“Spot on.”

“I watched election night live at my desk in Australia. I cried.

The next morning, Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post wrote in his column that he had to reevaluate his country, because an America that could elect a black man president of the United States was not the America he thought he knew.

A woman was interviewed on the streets of Tehran about the election and she said of Obama, "He is our hope."

It's not just because he's black (and white), although that's obviously part of it. But not just any black man could be this transformational. It's because he is who he is. He is a reasonable, educated, wise and grown-up person. I believe he is governing for all Americans and not just for his base. He is strong enough to be able to admit weakness. He doesn't need to bluster and puff his chest out and pretend to be what he is not. Just about everyone feels they could talk with him, because he seems to value people independently of their "value" in worldly terms.

The world changed the day you elected him, America. So, please, don't let the rest of the world respect your President more than you do.”

“Hallelujah! I'm sick and tired of the masquerade that is the "religious right". Christianity in truth means to be Christ-like. Jesus Christ is better represented by this true and recent story of a landlord who went back to work so he didn't have to evict his tenants:

Peirce refused to evict them. He didn't throw the families into the street, though he has every right to.

"I sat with them and prayed for better times," Peirce said. "These are stand-up guys. Family men. Proud. They paid me before, when they were working. You don't show your faith, your Christianity, in words. You do it in deeds."

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/24/landlord-goes-back-to-wor_n_298646.html

Thanks Josh and Michael. And also thanks to Jim Wallis, whose book "God's Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get It" says a great deal about the relationship of the Christian faith and politics.”

“Why do I feel like I want to give Shep Smith a pat on the back for doing what should be a reflex action for a news journalist?”

“Thank you, sir.”

“What a great outcome. Congratulations all around.”

“I followed the Duke lacrosse saga from Australia. One of the problems with the system was that Nifong needed to be popular in order to be re-elected, and popular opinion in his town favoured convictions. Of course, he contributed to the public fascination with the case by his media conferences and inappropriate disclosures. So, he dug himself in and didn't have the character (and, perhaps, the insight) to adjust his course.

The requirement of popularity, in order to retain one's job, is a powerful factor that must, even subconsciously, affect the capacity of a DA to make the right decisions. Further, as long as a prosecutor's job performance is assessed, even in popular culture, by reference to the number of cases won and lost, there will be pressure on every prosecutor to get the conviction, not the right outcome. The ethically weaker ones will commit the more egregious breaches of ethics. Others won't even realise their bias.

Great article.”

“Evil. Despicable. Ungodly. UnChristlike.

All these words apply.

Thanks for a great article.”

“Two very sensible comments. Brooks explained the phenomenon we're seeing in a way I hadn't heard before.”

“Nice work, Jon. With increased profile comes increased accountability.”