Believe it or not. It looks like Tom Cruise is with us.

[coloradodem2005]

http://www.newsmeat.com/fec/bystate_detail.php?st=CA&last=Cruise&first=Tom

[jpgray]

1. Wha...? Doesn't the SeaOrg have a political branch?

:crazy:

Good for him, though.

[hlthe2b]

3. What's the political orientation of the Church of Scientology.... anyone

know? (just curious)

[drhilarius]

17. Any party that supports Xenu's presidency.

Xenu for prez of teegeeac in 2008!

[ET Awful]

22. Their political orientation is any party that allows them to keep their

tax exempt status as a "church."

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

2. Do the Scientologists try to make their people hew to any particular party

or candidates? Or do they try to stay out of the limelight of national politics?

Don't they own some town in FLA? Clearwater or something? What's the story there?

Isn't Greta Van Sustern a Scientologist? Is she a Dem or Repub or neither?

[jpgray]

4. The celebs get special treatment anyway

It's the drones that cough up all the money and get bullied into certain actions.

[wtf]

6. Just curious

What makes you say believe it or not?

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

7. You replied to my post, rather than the original post. n/t

[coloradodem2005]

9. Well....

...from all the talk here, it seemed like he was leaning Republican. They said that he seemed to be for Bush.

[fujiyama]

19. I think Greta leans (or more likely leaned)

to the left. Now that she's on FOX she mostly avoids politics and talks mostly about Laci Peterson. I think she defended Clinton during the impeachment when she was on CNN.

I don't know about their owning a town. Scientology is kookier than Mormonism it seems like...

[joefree1]

5. Yeah well, not much room for Scientoligist

... in Bush's heaven. Guess Tom knows he's with the rest of us infidels.


http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PaganWarrior/

[Droopy]

8. He's with us in a big way

Can't say I like his acting much, but I love his politics.

[regnaD kciN]

10. ...or not.

If you check the dates, his only contribution since 2000 (when he donated to Hillary) was for Barbara Boxer last year. He did contribute to "Friends of Albert Gore," but back in 1998, long before the 2000 election. Most of his other donations have been to Senate candidates. And he didn't contribute to any of the Democratic presidential candidates this year.

Granted, his contribution record shows he's no Republican. But he's scarcely a Democratic power like the Weinsteins, Streisand, et. al. -- more a lukewarm contributor who will give to a candidate who piques his interest every so often, but not systematically to further the party's goals.

[Droopy]

12. So he doesn't do the big benefits

Donating $5000 to a Dem running for senate that isn't going to represent you is a big contribution.

[girl gone mad]

14. He's good friends with Spielberg..

who is a big Dem supporter. I'm certain Nicole is a liberal, as is Penelope.

Whether you like his acting or not, he appears as interested in the art of his craft as he is in the business end. He chooses to work with the best directors, and took a big risk in working with Kubrick. I'm not at all surprised to hear that he supports Democrats. In fact, I'm surprised that people thought he might be conservative.

Too bad about the Scientology, though.

[w13rd0]

11. Donations to Kerry for 96 Senatorial...

...and CMB. Not bad...

[AntiCoup2K4]

13. Interesting.... In his new Rolling Stone interview he was very evasive...

...when asked about the election. I never pictured him as a Repuke, but what's the point of avoiding the subject if you have made political contributions which are a matter of public record? :shrug:

[girl gone mad]

15. Just look what happened to..

Sean Penn, Tim Robbins and Alec Baldwin when they spoke out.

I think Robert Redford made a great point when he said in an interview that if you're a celebrity and you're going to speak out politically, you have to really know what you're talking about. Maybe Tom Cruise doesn't want to put his foot in his mouth and end up in the middle of a controversy.

[Dogmudgeon]

16. Why do people hate Tom Cruise?

Because he's a Scientologist?

Come on ... the streets of L.A. are filthy with Scientologists. You can't swing a dead cat in a full circle in that town without having someone tugging on your sleeve to get your engram-encrusted ass down to the Org for an Oxford Capacity Analysis and a $49.95 D.I.Y. Dianetics kit.

Tom Cruise has been an "out" Democrat for most of his life. And the top brass of the Church of Scientology is firmly anti-political -- it will whore itself out to anybody who is nice to the CofS. On the other hand, I have yet to see even a single photo of Cruise, Travolta, Mimi Rogers or any other big-name Scientologist schlepping an E-meter down LaBrea.

(Yes, the comely Erika "Swimfan" Christensen is a Scientologist, too. No pictures of her, nude or clothed, schlepping an E-meter down LaBrea, either. Read it and weep like a boo-hoo clam, pre-clears!)

Hubbard himself was a curious mix of right-wing anti-Gummint wacko and left-wing idealist. An uncle of mine (who was a bunco cop) knew him from when he was a cop, and the father of a friend of mine was with him from early Dianetics days (1949) through the early 1980s. They both said, in effect, that he had a paranoid streak that his acolytes turned into a crusade. But the Devil incarnate? Hardly. My uncle, in fact, liked him, and was sad to see him turn himself into an "atomic guru" whom he thought was pulling a major scam.

The high-viz Scientologists are given a lot more leeway than the less moneyed ones and are left to lead near-normal lives. They tend to not surrender their lives to the church. You really can't make any blanket judgements about them except maybe to question their good sense in spiritual matters.

Even most of the low-level Scientologists put their pants on one leg at a time, and don't use their mystical O.T. powers in the process. I'm starting to think that the idea that all Scientologists are crazed zombies is one of those "Internet Memes" that got out of control (though, in all fairness, the CoS "Dead Agent" activity against the Internet did little to dispel those memes).

Yes, I know all about Lisa McPherson, Paulette Cooper, Operation Snow White, the OT3 Wall of Fire, Body Thetans, overboarding, and every other sin, cardinal and venial, committed by the Church, and I'll call for the head of any Scientologist who transgresses the well-reasoned laws of God and Man. But just as most Roman Catholics are not pedophiles, most Scientologists are not blood-lusting psychos.

Immortal Cleared Operating Thetans or not, they're just people. Some of whom suck. And most of whom don't.

And if Tom Cruise wants to be "on our side", I'm happy to have him.

Anyway ... that ought to raise the Org's T.A. for the evening (along with DU's collective blood pressure) ...

--bkl

[Nomad559]

18. Ron Hubbard

http://www.visi.com/~markg/atheists.html

L. Ron Hubbard, American Author (1911-1986)

Stated that religion was a hoax and it only served to control people (I do not know the exact quote) and then proved it by creating his own religion, Scientology.
"Nevertheless I achieved my own ends beautifully. I took the pressure off the boiler, oriented myself in the world, came to recognize what was important and what was not important, defined for my own use such things as morality and evil and ethics in general, and established what satisfied me as being the true psychology and religion."

[JI7]

20. Tom Cruise has always been pretty liberal

[rman]

21. scientology is anything but liberal

one of the foundations of scientology is the idea that some people know better then ordinary people.

[Pepperbelly]

23. thread people ... quit hating on Tom ...

Cut the guy a break. If you don't like someone's religion, don't join but this hating on him because of his religion is disgusting, self-righteous, and despicable.

You do, of course, have freedom of speech but do you have to be so fucking judgemental and obnoxious about it.