Katie Holmes breaks with Scientology, Cruise

Posted on July 10, 2012 by petrel41

This video from the USA is called Tom Cruise Scientology Video – (Original UNCUT).

Scientology is often considered to be a for profit business, claiming to be a religion because religions are tax exempt.

Scientology was already the cause of the breakup of film actor Tom Cruise’s second marriage, with Nicole Kidman.

Recently, Scientology ruined Cruise‘s third marriage, with Katie Holmes.

By Naughty But Nice Rob in the USA:

Katie Holmes Returns To Catholic Church

Posted: 07/09/2012 1:09 pm Updated: 07/09/2012 1:17 pm

Five years after revealing that she had started to study Scientology, Katie Holmes has officially returned to the Catholic faith, registering as a parishioner at the Church of St. Francis Xavier in New York City.

“Everyone is thrilled to have Katie join us,” a member of the church’s choir told me. “She has not yet attended a service, but when she does she will be welcomed with open arms.”

The church, located on 16th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues, is known for inclusive thinking and its welcoming of many gay and lesbian Catholics.

In this, that New York parish differs from elsewhere in the United States Roman Catholic Church. But also certainly from Tom Cruise, from other Scientologist movie stars, and from Scientology.

Its mission statement indicates that the Roman Catholic Church parish “strives to be a prophetic, welcoming community, inclusive witness to the presence of Christ Jesus in our midst.” Its website proclaims that it is a respectful community, “where seekers and their questions are welcomed, where injustice is challenged, where the poor, the alienated and marginalized find a home,

That is certainly different from Scientology; where, if you are poor, then you get even poorer as you have to give your money to the Scientology bigwigs.

and where people are refreshed, reconciled and renewed.”

Scientology Reportedly Auditioned Girlfriends for Tom Cruise: here.

Man says treatment at Scientology-affiliated clinic triggered suicide attempt: here.

Nicole Kidman opens up about her divorce from Tom Cruise: here.

Actress Leah Remini quits Scientology (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes’s divorce and Scientology to be subject of Broadway play (metro.co.uk)
Leah Remini Breaks Silence On Scientology Defection: ‘I’m Not About To Shut Up’ (radaronline.com)
Leah Remini Will Talk Church Of Scientology In Memoirs, Supported By Paul Haggis (contactmusic.com)
Leah Remini Scientology Update: Actress Speaks Out About Quitting Religion, Welcomes the Support (hngn.com)
Tom Cruise, Scientology Come Under Fire As Leah Remini Leaves The Church (radaronline.com)
Leah Remini Files Missing Persons Report For Shelly Miscavige, Scientology Leader’s Wife (thehollywoodgossip.com)
Drama Behind Scientology Exit: Katie Holmes And Kirstie Alley Wrote ‘Reports’ About Leah Remini To Church, Sister Claims (radaronline.com)
Church of Scientology wanted Pitt? (huffingtonpost.com)

Valkyrie, new film vs. World War II reality

Posted on January 28, 2009 by petrel41

This video is called Michael Palin in Auschwitz.

From British weekly Socialist Worker:

The truth behind ‘Valkyrie’ and the coup against Hitler

The film Valkyrie dramatises an attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler. German writer and activist Stefan Bornost looks at the reality

On 20 July 1944 a group of German army officers attempted to assassinate Adolf Hitler by exploding a bomb in his Wolf’s Lair headquarters.

They then intended to accuse central figures in the Nazi regime of plotting against Hitler.

The conspirators hoped to carry out a military coup using the army’s emergency plan to take control of German cities in case of social breakdown – “Operation Valkyrie”.

However, Hitler survived the explosion and on the same day the coup failed. Thousands of conspirators were interned and the main plotters were hanged or shot.

The story is told in the new film Valkyrie, a pet project of actor Tom Cruise. He plays Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, the central figure in the conspiracy.

Stauffenberg had direct access to Hitler and personally delivered the bomb to the Wolf’s Lair.

When Cruise first announced his plan to make the film there was a storm of protest in Germany. But now that it has been released, Valkyrie has been praised by politicians and press alike.

This should be no great surprise – its version of the story fits neatly with myths about resistance to Hitler spun by the German establishment ever since the end of the Second World War.

The 20 July conspirators are often held up as representing the rebellious conscience of democratic Germany. They are contrasted to left wing resistance, which supposedly wanted to swap one dictatorship for another.

There is a big problem with this theory.

The vast majority of conspirators were not seeking a return to parliamentary democracy – in fact many of them despised the previous Weimar Republic.

The German officer corps was drawn from the nobility. Their political outlook was deeply reactionary.

Valkyrie leaves out the ambiguous nature of these officers’ rebellion, which makes it deeply flawed politically.

Tom Cruise plays Stauffenberg as an untainted hero.

However, after taking part in the 1939 invasion of Poland, the real Stauffenberg wrote that the Polish people “are an unbelievable rabble, with many Jews and many people of mixed blood… only happy when they are dominated”.

He thoroughly approved when Hitler concentrated military command in his own hands towards the end of 1941. It was only in 1942 that the attitude of Stauffenberg and many senior officers, began to shift.

This was for two main reasons.

First, the war had turned bad. The German advance to the east had been halted. Many of Hitler’s officers came to regard him as incompetent in his conduct of the war.

To them Hitler’s crime was not that he started a barbaric war, but that he appeared not to be winning it.

The conspirators came to regard Hitler as the major obstacle to an honourable peace.

They remembered the “shame” of the Versailles Treaty which had ended the First World War. This had left Germany liable for crippling reparations and parts of the country occupied by foreign troops.

They were determined that this time Germany should be left intact and unoccupied.

The second reason was fear of the consequences from the sheer scale of the killings that had been carried out behind the lines on the eastern front – where the regular army had worked hand in glove with the SS and the Nazi death squads, killing Jews, Slavs and Roma Gypsies.

Like many of his class, Stauffenberg associated the barbarity of the genocide with the regime’s upstarts, people from modest backgrounds who had risen with the Nazis and taken leadership roles that “rightly” belonged to the old conservative elites.

To his credit it does seem that he was genuinely appalled by the genocide from 1943 onwards.

Other conspirators had more sinister motives. For example, Eduard Wagner ran prison camps, and was partly responsible for the deaths of several million Soviet prisoners of war. He joined the conspiracy fearing Soviet retribution in the case of a German defeat.

Valkyrie could have been about how staunch supporters of the Nazi regime transformed into Hitler’s enemies, with all the ambiguities that implies.

Tom Cruise and director Bryan Singer weren’t interested in such subtleties. This is especially annoying, as Cruise said his ambition was “to tell it like it was”. Superficially this is true – the minutiae of the planning and the coup are well depicted.

But the film fails because it can’t explain what motivated the characters.

Another review of this film: here. And here. See here.

Valkyrie: A thriller, but not a historical film: here.

Tom Cruise accused of being ‘a homophobic bore’: here.

Rochus Misch, last witness to Hitler’s death, dies aged 96 (theweek.co.uk)
Rochus Misch: Hitler’s bodyguard was one of the first to find him dead in bunker dies aged 96 (thisismoney.co.uk)

Tom Cruise’s censored Scientology video uncensored

Posted on January 18, 2008 by petrel41

This video from the USA is called Media Mayhem: Tom Cruise & Scientology Divorce with Mark Ebner.

From Gawker in the USA:

The Cruise Indoctrination Video Scientology Tried To Suppress

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. ..

Yesterday, for a few hours, the clip of Tom Cruise discussing his beliefs as a Scientologist appeared on Youtube, and was republished by Radar and Defamer. That video is no longer available, most likely after the Church of Scientology sent in a copyright infringement notice. Gawker is now hosting a copy of the video; it’s newsworthy; and we will not be removing it.