Sen. Xenophon calls for "cult watchdog" agency

[sarahinzurich]

Well....if they don't find anything, they will just make it up, like they've done before. Since when does the CoS let truth stand in their way?

LRH spoke of "The Road to Truth",..... he just neglected to say that it didn't exist in the CoS.

That's exactly what worries me - I hope Xenophon knows what he is dealing with and taking precautions against the CoS.

[the-ghostwhowalks]

Dear Mystic, your bonafide spiritual petition has been duly received, noted, and approved. In the coming days (of 'this spiritual season') your wish has become our command.

It is our fervent & certain hope & trust you do not find the physical manifest nature of Mr. Xenophon's coming American counterpart to be a distraction. As being a woman carries with it certain unique & inherent spiritual qualities that are called for and necessary in the fulfillment of your (and our) ultimate Spiritual Aim.

Sincerely,
Buddha, GheeBus & Quan Yin

Co-signed by: THALES, SOCRATES, PLATO, ARISTOTLE: PLOTINUS, ST AUGUSTINE, ST ANSELM, ST AQUINAS, MACHIAVELLI, DESCARTES: HOBBES, SPINOZA, MALEBRANCHE, LOCKE, LEIBNIZ, BERKELEY, HUME, ROUSSEAU, KANT, FICHTE, HEGEL, KIERKEGUAARD, SHOPENHAUER, MILL, FREGE, RUSSELL, WITTGENSTEIN, HEIDEGGER, SARTE, and others too numerous too mention here.

Future Historical Footnote: Marx declined to sign up or on. As did Jack the Ripper.

Absloutely bloody brilliant !

[Thrak]

And you know somewhere IAS dreges are chasing people down to "brief" them and tell them they should re-mortgage their homes to handle the "suppression" happening in Australia.

[Cherished]

The Government has expressed doubts over its constitutional powers to introduce a watchdog body.

But what does it mean by this. Sounds a bit contradictory.

Nick is in federal parliament. Like the USA, the states have plenary power to govern everything! But the federal government's power is limited to those areas granted to it in the constitution.

However, like the USA, the federal government CAN act in areas not within its constitutional power where the states refer their powers to the Commonwealth. So, there are ways around it.

Also:

I love Nick Xenophon. I just do.

[Cherished]

I bet the CoS is digging real hard into Xenophon's background to find some dirt. I just hope they don't manage to shut him up, like they did to Bob Minton. I'm sure OSA is working overtime right now, trying to creat a little "Xenophon Freakout".

I'm pretty sure they've looked and found nothing. As I recall, they made a statement about Nick in March 2010 or thereabouts to the effect that he's a good man, but he's being manipulated by the evil psychs (Professor Patrick McGorry).

Nick is taking on the clubs industry in Australia, battling their use of poker machines. That industry is much more capable than OSA of shutting people up - and they haven't managed to shut Nick up for the 3 years he has been in federal parliament, plus however many he was in state parliament before that as the "No Pokies" senator.

[Arthur Dent]

Absolutely if cults can use the government to shield them under the umbrella of religious freedom then the government should be responsible to shield the public from them.

Agreed. The church, in spite of it's internal chaplain, qual, etc. doesn't really have a needed and arms-legnth ombudsman.

I bet the CoS is digging real hard into Xenophon's background to find some dirt. I just hope they don't manage to shut him up, like they did to Bob Minton. I'm sure OSA is working overtime right now, trying to creat a little "Xenophon Freakout".

They likely can't find anything and I hope Sen. Xenophon is alert to the possibility of them trying to set him up in light of that.

Thank you Sen Xenophon and all the Aussies who helped make this happen.

[Sydney]

All I gotta say as an Australian "XENOPHON FOR 1ST PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF AUSTRALIA!!!"

Wait wait, we should change our name to OZ, then the acronym would be ROO!!

OMG OMG and instead of a President we could declare him "Wizard!!!"

XENU for 1st wizard of OZ!!!

Oh and back on topic,

CULL THE CULT CULL THE CULT CULL THE CULT!!

[Mystic]

Dear Mystic, your bonafide spiritual petition has been duly received, noted, and approved. In the coming days (of 'this spiritual season') your wish has become our command.

It is our fervent & certain hope & trust you do not find the physical manifest nature of Mr. Xenophon's coming American counterpart to be a distraction. As being a woman carries with it certain unique & inherent spiritual qualities that are called for and necessary in the fulfillment of your (and our) ultimate Spiritual Aim.

Sincerely,
Buddha, GheeBus & Quan Yin

Co-signed by: THALES, SOCRATES, PLATO, ARISTOTLE: PLOTINUS, ST AUGUSTINE, ST ANSELM, ST AQUINAS, MACHIAVELLI, DESCARTES: HOBBES, SPINOZA, MALEBRANCHE, LOCKE, LEIBNIZ, BERKELEY, HUME, ROUSSEAU, KANT, FICHTE, HEGEL, KIERKEGUAARD, SHOPENHAUER, MILL, FREGE, RUSSELL, WITTGENSTEIN, HEIDEGGER, SARTE, and others too numerous too mention here.

Future Historical Footnote: Marx declined to sign up or on. As did Jack the Ripper.

Jack definitely needs ripping.

[Voltaire's Child]

I think that government involvement in personal affairs is a slippery slope. But, having said that, it's my observation that most laws and local rules come into being because of problems that were observed.

Remember in school when the teacher would make some rule or something and it would be because of one or two kids and the rest of us would have to suffer or put up with the new restriction?

That's how most laws are and that's how most watchdog agencies and other things are.

There is ALWAYS a danger of things like this leading to a nanny or big brother state. We often hear weird news stories of governments taking draconian action instead of using judgment against someone who didn't really do much of anything.

An example:

It used to be that nobody did much for the rights of children, then it turned into a huge huge overkill thing. People lost their businesses, as they were accused of having Satanic rituals and doing stuff to the kids. It was all lies, witchhunting and hysteria.

OTOH, it used to be that no one would stand up for a child or that it rarely happened. Such as when I got molested. I had the guy's name!! But, noooo....child abuse wasn't FASHIONABLE then. So they did nothing.

What we need is a happy medium.

Another example:

I sure hope this one isn't true. But I read a couple years ago that some guy who had a humorous cartoon porn pic of the Simpsons got arrested in Australia for child porn. Never mind the fact that it's A) A cartoon and B) the Simpsons have been around so long that even Maggie is technically "Of age".

So yeah, I worry about a nanny state and with damn good reason.

But in the end, I would support a cult watchdog agency. I'm sick of there being horrific abuses that are clearly illegal and the government doesn't do anything. Why don't they? They were sure quick to go in and completely bungle Waco. And shoot a woman in the back at Ruby Ridge.

In the end, we have no perfect solutions. If we ask for help and get it, we may get more things that can cause problems later. But if we don't, then people imprisoned in the RPF or in other cults may never get any help or support or have their plight reach the public's attention.

So I'll take the imperfect solution, please.

[smartone]

Thanks Panda Termindt, Jump and Cherished for the explanation. Why do these governments make things soooo complicated, sheesh.

We have a flipping referendum coming up next month and nobody can wrap their minds around it enough to vote yes or no