Improving Society

2006-04-23T23:19:00.000-07:00

What do you do when a hurricane with winds of up to 180 mph hits your coastline?

At the web site for the Tampa Organization of the Church of Scientology, there is a great article about Scientology Volunteer Ministers cleaning up after the the Australian disaster from Hurrican Larry.

2006-04-18T21:49:00.000-07:00

In one of the most ambitious volunteer help plans in the world, the Scientology Volunteer Ministers are building a world-wide organization to respond to large scale trauma such as Hurricane Katrina or the Southeast Asian Tsunami. But there isn't always such an emergency, so the VMs travel in Cavalcades, setting up tents in public places to help individuals and train more Volunteer Ministers. In the United States, a VM Cavalcade recently traveled to Harlem, in New York. Read about this VM Cavalcade story on the Volunteer Ministers Web Site.

2006-04-12T21:44:00.000-07:00

The worst floods in recent history are attacking Hungary, and the Scientology Volunteer Ministers are on the scene. The article on the Volunteer Ministers site tells the whole tale.

2006-04-11T21:48:00.000-07:00

Be sure to check out the latest on the Scientology Volunteer Ministers. The exploits of this ambitious group are far-reaching. In fact they’re quite international.

What is Scientology? Check out the Navy’s Scientology web page. Then go to links at the Center for the Study of New Religions Scientology page. If you want to know more, you can download informational material at http://www.scientologyreligion.org.

2006-01-19T12:15:00.000-08:00

The world's largest volunteer assistance organization is getting larger at a rapid rate, and it's happening everywhere, all over the world. Recently there was breakthrough expansion in the African nation of Botswana.

A landlocked country just north of South Africa, Botswana is partially covered by the incredible Kalahari Desert, and is home to a large quantity of the kind of large animals people think of when they think of Africa -- lions, elephants and so forth.

A Scientology Volunteer Minister mission visited Francistown in Eastern Botswana, and left behind a corps of newly trained Scientology Volunteer Ministers who will carry on their work, not only in Francistown, but also in the village of Pandamatenga, 250 km away.

The story of how the Volunteer Ministers came to Pandamatenga began several months ago when a man from the village visited the Goodwill tent in Francistown and decided to take a course in communication. He was so delighted with how much the course improved his abilities that he asked the tour members to bring L. Ron Hubbard’s Volunteer Minister techniques to the people of his village.

The Scientology Volunteer Ministers Goodwill Tour took him up on his invitation and for the past two months they have been traveling back and forth between Pandamatenga and Francistown, providing their seminars and courses.

The mayor and chief of Pandamatenga, realizing how valuable these services are, donated land for a permanent Volunteer Ministers center that could continue to serve the people of the village after the Goodwill tour moves on to its next location. And now the construction of this new center, built in the style of the local dwellings, has been completed.

Read more about the story at the Volunteer Ministers website, www.volunteerministers.org.

2005-12-11T19:01:00.000-08:00

Boston Scientologists Provide Effective Community Help

Three days a week, Boston Scientologists provide one-on-one tutoring to children and adults at the Dorchester Scientology Volunteer Ministry, a free community center serving the inner city of Boston.

Rev. Robert Castagna established the Dorchester Scientology Volunteer Ministry in the summer of 2004 to assist the community with crime and violence reduction. “We wanted to do something effective to help the community,” said Rev. Castagna. “Literacy affects so many aspects of life. The amount of crime in an area directly corresponds with literacy rates, so we decided to provide tutoring as our first activity.”

The ministry also provides other services based on the Scientology Handbook, the text that forms the backbone of Scientology Volunteer Minister training. These services address such subjects as parenting, improving relationships and crime prevention.

The center is open Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday from 3:00 to 7:00, Saturdays and by special appointment.

HOW TO VOLUNTEER
To assist with donations or if you can volunteer time contact the Scientology Volunteer Minister Coordinator at:
1-800 HELP 4-YU (1-800-435-7498) or (323) 960-1949
e-mail vm@volunteerministers.org

2005-11-10T18:23:00.000-08:00

Scientology Volunteer Ministers cover the world. In numbers far greater than the Red Cross and the Salvation Army and the Peace Corp combined, they are starting to show up everywhere. One of the remarkable characteristics of this organization is they are active during normal times as well as during emergencies. Their well-publicized help during Katrina and during the Southeast Asian tsunami is backed up by their enduring presence during "peacetime" as well.

Since July 2005, Scientology Volunteer Ministers have been touring through Brazil, providing help to local residents.

The purpose of the Scientology Volunteer Ministers Goodwill Tour is to introduce people to simple yet effective techniques to improve conditions in life.

The motto of the Volunteer Ministers is Something can be done about it, and they take this motto seriously, providing help in such diverse areas as raising children, restoring relationships, improving job skills, overcoming the ups and downs in life and improving ethics and integrity.

2005-09-03T12:51:00.000-07:00

Scientology Volunteers Help after Hurricane Katrina

A few weeks ago I went to an event at my church, where David Miscavige was describing the work of hundreds of Scientology Volunteer Ministers after the Dec 2004 tsunamis, and what they did to help the people of Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand.

Little did I think then that just a few weeks later hundreds of Scientology Volunteer Ministers would be heading for American cities to care for refugees on our own soil.

And not from a terrorist attack, but from a natural catastrophe the likes of which America has never experienced before.

You'd have to live in complete isolation not to have seen the images of the people who were left behind for 5 days in New Orleans without proper care, food, water or medical supplies.

Now it is beginning to sort out and I know hundreds of Scientology Volunteer Ministers are on their way to help in cities all over the south where refugees have been shipped.

Typical of Scientology Volunteer Ministers they work one-on-one to help the individual overcome trauma and get into useful production where they can once more assert their self-worth and help others.

Anyone who wants to help should visit the Scientology Volunteer Minsters web site at www.volunteerministers.org These people really know what they are doing and they need all the help they can get.

I reckon next month at the next international Scientology event I'll see Mr. David Miscavige praising the Volunteer Ministers again -- but this time it will be for the care they are doing right now in Louisianna, Mississippi, Florida, Texas and wherever the vicitms of this disaster need help.

2005-07-02T17:08:00.000-07:00

Post Partum Depression
And the Myth of Chemical Imbalance

Brooke Shields' promotion to new moms to take Paxilis irresponsible, just as Tom Cruise said.

If, as the American Psychiatric Association now states, there is no test or objective evidence to validate their theory of a "Chemical Imbalance" in the brain, and that is the "scientific" basis of Paxil being used to address the problems a woman experiences after childbirth, then why on earth would a woman take Paxil!?

Here's the straight information about what is really going on after childbirth:

"Psychiatrist Nancy Mullan, who practices non-drug alternatives to health care problems, warned, 'There is a terrific plummet in hormones when giving birth which needs to be normalized. Blood sugar imbalances, nutrient deficiencies, low adrenal gland function, thyroid imbalance and copper and zinc deficiencies should all be tested for. The last thing you need is an antidepressant masking or messing with this'

'The Physicians Desk Reference also warns that Paxil can be secreted through breast milk.' "

Why on earth would any woman want to put their infant child on Paxil!

Citizens Commission on Human Rights web site is loaded with information that exposes what is really going on with psychiatry, and they can also be contacted for helpful information on alternatives to psychiatry and psychiatric drugs.

2005-03-13T05:13:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends,

DO YOU WANT THE U.N. OR YOUR OWN GOVERNMENT TELLING YOU WHAT VITAMINS AND MINERALS YOU CAN BUY, AND HOW MUCH????

DO YOU WANT THE GOVERNMENT.....ANY GOVERNMENT TELLING YOU YOU CAN'T DO YOUR OWN VITAMIN THERAPY, CLEANSING OR PURIFICATION PROGRAMS?

Do you want your RIGHT to take more vitamin C or E or B complex DICTATED BY GOVERNMENT??? REMEMBER "CODEX."

IF WE DON'T GET A-C-T-I-V-E in this OPERATION being QUIETLY done right under our noses, we will have the beginnings of a nutritional supplement noose appearing around our necks!

IF WE SNOOZE......WE LOSE! Better get informed AND active.

Best,

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
...regarding CODEX threat to supplements, here is a responsible agency that is informing the area and opposing the restrictions. Have a look.

http://www.thenhf.com/codex_30.htm

Here are two links to briefings from this same organization: http://www.thenhf.com/codex_overview.htm
http://www.thenhf.com/codex_25.htm

2004-07-13T14:02:00.000-07:00

Now there is a very real, worldwide attack on vitamins.

This is an interesting one. And who is apparently behind it? The same villains that have always opposed vitamins. The big drug companies. They don't like the fact that someone can go chew on a plant and get real improvement without buying one of their $300.00 bottles of special pills.

Europe has a very restrictive law about vitamins coming up in a year or so. But the exceptions, where they exist, are for "synthetic" versions of the drugs. That puts the production squarely in the drug company bailiwick. Smaller "natural" vitamin producers are being pushed out. Synthetic drugs can be produced more cheaply and in large quantities by the drug companies - smaller companies won't be able to compete. And their "natural" products will be illegal.

Don't you love it?

How much longer are these guys gonna get away with it?

2004-06-24T14:37:00.000-07:00

On April 21 and 22, 2004 a two-day practical workshop on the innovative Study Technology of L. Ron Hubbard was held at the European Office of the Church of Scientology International in Brussels and attended by officials from Brussels-based embassies and European Institutions. The workshop delivered under the banner of Applied Scholastics International, addressed the fact that nearly 1 billion people in the world are illiterate, 125 million out-of-school children are at risk of joining them and 11 million people in Europe alone don't have the basic literacy skills vital for survival. As a solution to this situation spanning the globe, the workshop provided the officials with the basis of learning and the solution to educational failures and enlightened the attendees, through hands-on practical demonstrations and exercises, on the fact that at the root of educational failures lies a fundamental situation that has been almost universally overlooked: students have never been taught how to learn.

Hands-on practical demonstrations enlightened the attendees on the fact that at the root of educational failures lies a fundamental situation that has been almost universally overlooked: students have never been taught how to learn.
"And make no mistake: poor education badly affects Africa, but also Europe and America alike," said Fabio Amicarelli, Director of the Brussels Church of Scientology International's European Office for Public Affairs and Human Rights, hosting the seminar. "In fact there is an estimate 10% to 20% of the European population that does not have the basic literacy skills vital for survival in today's world."

The booklet, Advancing Literacy and Education, describes the effective projects being supported by Scientologists worldwide to eradicate illiteracy. It was released during the workshop as part of the Church's information campaign to inform the leading 56,000 government officials of Europe about Scientology's effective solutions.

Mr. Hubbard originally codified his discoveries on the subject of study to make it possible for students of the Scientology religion to understand and apply the religious works they were studying. While his study methods are taught in all Scientology churches, they have far broader application.

Officials graduate from the two-day workshop on Study Technology.
Applied Scholastic is an organization dedicated to improve education level and bring the effective study technology available to millions. To date, more than 3 million people have participated in Applied Scholastics programs throughout the world. The network of Applied Scholastics schools, groups and community literacy programs has grown to 94 schools and 469 groups in 56 nations. Applied Scholastics has trained over 66,000 educators, who in turn are bringing this vital technology to millions of students.

2004-06-03T15:53:00.000-07:00

New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer has indicted GlaxoSmithKline with concealing negative testing results on their supposed anti-depressant Paxil. The majority of the studies on the drug were negative, showing increased suicidal tendencies in users and other indicators of increased depression. In some studies, placebos (pills that contain no drug, given as a way of making sure nobody knows whether they're getting the real drug or not in the tests) brought better results than Paxil. But these studies found their way into somebody's bottom desk drawer, and weren't shown to the regulators, the doctors or the public.

I hope he gets 'em good. Good PR on a product is one thing. Covering up the fact that it kills is another. Check out the Paxil support chat sites on the web. They are the most maudlin thing you can find in this day and age. People who have been put on this drug are DESPERATE!

2004-05-27T16:08:00.000-07:00

Volunteer Ministers in the Los Angeles area have been setting up tents in public settings around L.A. on the weekends. In the last three weeks, there have been more than 10,000 new people introduced to Scientology in these tent events!

2004-05-20T18:34:00.000-07:00

Check out the number of Scientology Volunteer Minister programs in Los Angeles alone!

2004-05-06T14:36:00.000-07:00

A new force in society today is the Scientology Volunteer Minister. Thousands of Volunteer Ministers have helped in emergencies nationwide, from the aftermath of 9/11 to the California wildfires in San Diego County. It is good to have, and to be part of, a group that can bring real help where it is needed, when it is needed.

2004-04-29T14:29:00.000-07:00

One of the largest-selling books in history is Dianetics: Modern Science Of Mental Health by L. Ron Hubbard.

This wonderful book was first published in 1950. Ever since, even today, it sells by the millions -- and its simple and effective techniques are used around the world in many languages.

I first read Dianetics in the 1970s and began to use the processes described within during the late part of that decade. My life was transformed from a drag into an adventure. Today I still use the techniques to improve my life on a daily basis. It becomes a way of thought.

2004-01-28T19:00:00.000-08:00

If all of us took responsibility for improving our environment this world would be a much better place.

Many people are doing something to help. But there's a lot of room for other people to chip in.

Scientology Volunteer Ministers
is one of my favorite sites, because it has as its motto "something can be done about it".

Improving Society

Scientology Volunteers Help after Hurricane Katrina

Post Partum Depression And the Myth of Chemical Imbalance

Post Partum Depression
And the Myth of Chemical Imbalance