Outstanding. I too stopped the show multiple times to explain some things to my kids (18 & 20 – college students). They are absolutely incensed about this crap. Now they understand why I’ve always harassed the idiots with the table, e-meter and Dianetics books out in front of Walmart!

I homeschooled my two early on. My Mom was dying of cancer and the school district threatened me for letting a kindergartener miss school to be with his dying grandmother. Kindergarten is not mandatory in California. But the state pays $7000/student for average daily attendance (ada).

You cannot just independently school your kids unless you are a credentialed teacher and you must follow the state standards. Which I did. We were part of Horizon Charter. I loved it and we collaborated with other homeschool families. No bullying, and fantastic self directed learning. So much creativity.

I am a Christian – we reserved Bible lessons for Sunday school. We had plenty to do and explore with our lessons. Science involved cooking, baking and Cartesian divers. Kids took Karate, learned to speak some Japanese, and even visited the Japanese Consulate in San Fran. My first grader designed and built two wooden benches – one a lion, the other a tiger. My daughter made a Newtonian Physics machine for one science fair we held. We fostered animals for a local rescue and my daughter did a science experiment tracking how much the bottle baby kittens were fed and the relation between how large they grew and the ever increasing time between feedings. It was so cool. She really got it. Oh…and she was in first grade.

After my Mom passed, they went back to regular school. The teachers remarked on the incredible world knowledge my kids had. They are well-rounded young people who bear no prejudice and value everyone. They are smart, articulate, confident, and kind. They didn’t learn that in school.

As for your question in the car Mike, at the very end (“What were we a part of?”), there’s a very simple answer – Satan. No other theories or suggestions; just the devil himself and those who listen to him. There’s a quote often attributed to the movie “The Usual Suspects”, but in fact was originally coined by French poet Charles Baudelaire – “The devil’s finest trick is to persuade you that he does not exist.” As such, I think a more accurate term for Hubbard’s work would be Satantology; its built on theft, destruction, abuse, and possibly murder.

why is everything turned to different meanings? Is this like a secret language so people on the outside couldn’t figure it out without spending their children’s college funds. You should consider bringing a huge group of Christians to protest outside the full buildings…not the empty. Christians have done much to stop abortions. Do you think they wouldn’t assist you in showing what a cult this is instead of a religion. Nothing better than pissed off Christians trying to get all to convert. I’m not saying that anyone should convert, but getting their backing may be the biggest thing you could do. They’ll march on the basis that they’re getting tax exemption that they don’t deserve. It doesn’t take much to get Christians to protest what they believe is harmful. They don’t always take a good look at themselves but they sure take on a cause if you educate them enough about this. They’re held to high levels of compliance to keep their tax exempt status. This may just tick them off enough to help. Just an FYI

Coop, you’re right. Ask not for whom the bell tolls. It tolls for thee.

That is an impressive list

Richard, I left to get my young children away from it.

Yep, and here we sit Richard. Beer in hand, staring into space, wondering WTF did we do? So glad, there’s more than one beer in the house.

Sorry, I got a bit carried away with this, but check these out :
Collective nouns of animals

apes – shrewdness
badgers – cete
bats – colony
bears – sloth (or sleuth)
bees – bike; drift; hive; swarm
birds – colony (roosting in large numbers); dissimulation (small birds); drift (in flight); flight (in flight); flock; parcel; rush (migrating)
boars – singular
bottle-nosed whales – grind
buffalo – gang; herd
butterflies – flight; wing
cats – clowder
cattle – drift; drove (when being driven); herd; mob
chicks – cletch; clutch; brood; peep
choughs – clattering
colts – rag; rake
coots – covert
crows – murder
cubs – litter
curs – cowardness
deer – brace (two); leash (three)
dogs – brace (two); leash (three); pack
dolphins – herd; pod; school
donkeys – herd; pace
doves – dole (or dule)
ducks – paddling (on water); raft (on water)
dunlins – fling (in flight)
elephants – herd
elk – gang
falcons – cast (a pair released after game)
ferrets – business
finches – charm; chirm
fish – run (moving upstream for spawning); school; shoal
foxes – earth; leash (three); skulk
fowl – plump; skein (in flight); trip
frogs – knot
fur seals – harem (belonging to one male)
geese – gaggle; skein (in flight); wedge (in V formation in flight)
giraffes – herd
gnats – cloud
goats – flock; trip
goldfinches – charm
gorillas – band
grouse – brace (two); covey; pack
hares – down; huske; leash (three)
hawks – cast (a pair released after game); kettle (riding a thermal); leash (three)
herons – siege (or sedge, or sege)
horses – harras; span (a team of two); string
hounds – brace (two); cry; kennel; leash (three); mute; sute
insects (flying) – cloud; swarm
jellyfish – smack
kangaroos – flock; mob; troop
kittens – kindle
lapwings – desert
larks – bevy; exaltation; exalting
leopards – leap
lions – pride
magpies – tidings
mallards – sord; sute
martens – richesse
moles – labour
monkeys – troop
mules – barren; span (a team of two); string
nightingales – watch
owls – parliament
oxen – yoke (two yoked together)
partridges – covey
peacocks – muster; ostentation
pheasants – bevy; bouquet (when flushed); nye
pigeons – kit
plovers – congregations; wing
ponies – string
porpoises – herd; pod; school
pups – litter
quails – bevy
rabbits – berry
racehorses – string
ravens – unkindness
rhinoceroses – crash
roes – bevy
rooks – building; parliament
ruffs – hill
seals – plump; spring
sheep – flock; fold; mob; wing
sheldrake – dropping
snipe – walk; wisp
sparrows – host
squirrels – dray (a nest)
starlings – murmuration
swans – wedge (in V formation in flight)
swine – drift; sounder (wild); trip (tame)
teal – spring; string
toads – knot
trout – hover
turkeys – rafter
vipers – nest
waterfowl – bunch; knob (less than 30); raft (on water)
whales – gam; herd; plump; pod
wolves – pack; rout
woodcocks – fall
woodpeckers – descension

Just learned a new one – a crash of rhinoceroses.
Makes sense I suppose…