Sticks and Stones

I've stayed out of this whole Anonymous vs. Scientology war, but recently ran across an article that makes my blood boil.

Seems a 15 year old protestor in London has been Arrested for holding a sign that used the word "cult" to describe the church of scientology. Apparently, the group of protestors at the May 10th event were "banned by police from describing Scientology as a cult by police because it was 'abusive and insulting'." Wait...What?

This is not the first time the phalanx of scientologist lawyers have used the law(or misused I'd say) to prevent people from excercising basic rights.In fact, the rise of the Anonymous protest against scientology was initiated by scientology's attempts to remove links to videos that were deemed insulting to them. Here is a site with some information and tactics...note the quote at the top by the founder of scientology.
To be sure, I am a little concerned about even noting things like this, as the scientologists are well known for the ability to harras and intimidate...but then, that's the reason I am writing this. How can people stand by when someone gets arrested for holding up a sign with the word "cult " on it?

What are they afraid of?(WARNING: Sites listed below contain images that may be disturbing.) Sites like this or this one claim to provide evidence of more nefarious deeds by the church.

All this has got me to thinking and has led me to delve deeper into what the protest against scientology is all about. There is a lot of information out there, so if you too are curious, there's nothing stopping you from getting at it...at least, not yet.

The next protest is planned for June 14th.

UPDATE: Looks like sanity prevailed

April 13, 2029

After reading Paracelsus' grim report on How much time we have left on Earth (reminds me, I should really clean the garage), I was already a bit apprehensive about the fate of our planet. Then, I caught a bit of City Arts and Lectures with Neil deGrasse Tyson talking about Asteroid 2004 MN4 (or Apophis) which is slated to come within 18,600 miles of Earth's surface".
Or as NASA's site puts it, "On April 13, 2029, asteroid 2004 MN4 will fly past Earth only 18,600 miles (30,000 km) above the ground. For comparison, geosynchronous satellites orbit at 22,300 miles (36,000 km)." NASA also has a cool animated model so you can see an Alpha Centaurian's-eye view of the (near) collision!

The big test apparently is in 2035 when some(notably Dr. Tyson) think the asteroid will actually smack into Earth....So, maybe I can live with these gas prices, but I will start saving money to get a place further away from the coast.

One more thing, I found another cool gadget on makeuseof that let's you create your own Countdown Timer.
So here's my Doomsday Clock