From The Headlines

26 Year Worst Drop

Ouch. That's all the gains for 2007 being wiped of in the first 3 weeks of Jan. Did I hear 'Bear Market'?
...And there's no end in sight!

Tom Cruise Is Likened To A Top Nazi

There's this bit here that's being reported:

Respected German historian Guido Knopp has compared a speech by US actor Tom Cruise to the Church of Scientology with a call to war by Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels.

Knopp, an expert on World War II history, said in an interview with Bild newspaper: "Tom Cruise's manner calls to mind Goebbels."

The historian was commenting on a video recording of a rousing sermon Cruise delivered to fellow Scientology members four years ago that was recently posted on the internet.

The Mission Impossible star is seen asking fellow members of the church: "Should we clean this place up?"

Knopp said it was bound to remind Germans of Goebbels's notorious call for "total war" issued in Berlin on February 18, 1943.

"It is possible that the way in which Cruise speaks is common in many empowerment circles in the United States," he said.

"But the scene in which Cruise asks if the Scientologists should clean up the world and they all respond 'yes' will remind any German with an interest in history of Goebbels's infamous Sports Palace speech."

Cruise's portrayal of Nazi resistance hero Claus Schenk von Stauffenberg, an aristocrat who led a failed plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler in 1944, has caused unhappiness in Germany because of the actor's links to Scientology.

It's a convoluted world we live in. The cut on Tom's NAZI uniform looks much better than the real thing worn by Goebbels.

Tom Cruise: Weirdo, Cultist, Scientologist

They're A Weird Mob


Don't expect that video to be up for long. Youtube is pulling it down every few hours.This link came in the e-mail today and it's worth a look. It's Tom Cruise talking in an indoctrination video for the Church of Scientology.

You have to watch this video. It shows Tom Cruise, with all the wide-eyed fervor that he brings to the promotion of a movie, making the argument for Scientology, the bizarre 20th-century religion. Making the argument is an understatement. The Hollywood actor, star of movies such as Mission Impossible, is a complete fanatic. "When you're a Scientologist, and you drive by an accident, you know you have to do something about it, because you know you're the only one who can really help... We are the way to happiness. We can bring peace and unite cultures." There's much much more. Let me put it this way: if Tom Cruise jumping on Oprah's couch was an 8 on the scale of scary, this is a 10.

My thoughts? Man, he is one weird bastard.
"Love, compassion and toughness to get it done. "
What, exactly on earth, is he talking about?
In the video, he keeps saying he's dedicating his life to making the world a better place, but c'mon Tom, you're an *ACTOR* for crying out loud! Not Mother Teresa or the head of the Red Cross emergency services. If you want to help, donate all your money to a real cause instead of huckster cults.

There's even more Tom Cruise talk in the press today.

Pan Macmillan will not print a local edition of the book Tom Cruise, An Unauthorised Biography in Australia due to legal concerns, a move that has been labelled an act of censorship.

But the book, which alleges that Scientology played a major role in the breakdown of the marriage between Hollywood superstar Cruise and Nicole Kidman, will still be imported for sale at independent bookshops.

Scientologists have denied claims by the book's author, Andrew Morton, that Kidman was threatened with blackmail if she spoke out against the controversial religion.

The Cruise book, which is expected to be a best-seller overseas, will be released in a blitz of marketing and publicity in the US overnight.

The Church of Scientology and Cruise's lawyer have said the book is inaccurate.

It's interesting the Scientologists are so big they can intimidate a publishing house int silence. I mean, if there's nothing to hide, they shouldn't be trying to shut people up. They should just mount their counter-argument in public. This sort of intimidation goes to the heart of why they are so reviled.