I want to wish all my fellow t-bloggers and any othe visitors to my site a very happy and prosperous New Year.

And for anyone who is leaving 2006 with a bitter taste in their mouth or who isn't eager for 2007 and all the adventure and joy it will bring, I give you this from L. Ron Hubbard:

"Never regret yesterday. Life is in you today, and you make your tomorrow."

May we work together to create the peace on Earth we all desire.

Here is an interesting site on the subject: Religious Freedom Watch.

Scientology expands Fla. complex

On Tuesday, the Church of Scientology will go before the city`s Community Development Board to request a transfer of development rights from the site of its power plant on Court Street to the Oak Cove Building, a 13-story waterfront high-rise the church intends to develop as a 251-room hotel for visiting Scientologists.

The facility, once a 309-bed assisted living facility, has been vacant since 1999 and the current downtown redevelopment plan would limit the number of hotel units in the building to 170. The church`s plan is to transfer 81 units of potential development from its power plant property, meaning that site could never again be developed residentially.

The trade-off would allow the 251 rooms at Oak Cove the church wants. Plans for Oak Cove also include a restaurant and exercise room.

Contractors have nearly finished clearing out the Oak Cove Building, said Church of Scientology spokesman Ben Shaw, and they are now working on infrastructure like electricity. The building is expected to be completed in May, he said.

The church also plans major renovations to turn the Fort Harrison Hotel into a five-star hotel with 220 rooms for visiting Scientologists, three public restaurants and a spa. The church also plans to resume construction on its massive Super Power Building, which has sat empty for three years.

Rrenovations to the Fort Harrison and Super Power Building would be complete by mid-2008. At that point, religious services would move into the Super Power Building and the Fort Harrison and Oak Cove buildings would be used primarily as hotels.

Transferring development rights is a common tool used by developers that allows them to build more units on desirable property, while limiting development on less desirable sites. The city`s planning department will recommend the transfer be approved.

Shaw said changes in design plans were the chief cause of delays. Once completed, the designs will be submitted to the city for review.

International Human Rights Day 2006 was marked by the formation in London of the Coalition for Human Rights and Peace. The purpose of the coalition is to see that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is made known and used at all levels of society through coordination of the human rights activities of like-minded groups.continued

Read more at the Scientology Volunteer Ministers web site, and help if you can. It is urgently needed!

Santa's naughty list now officially includes any kids that take or promote drug use. On December 1st, 2006 Santa Claus was officially sworn in as a "Drug Free Marshal" along with hundreds of other parents and children at the 13th annual Winter Wonderland in Clearwater. Joe Brady, former lieutenant of the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office and past president of Fraternal Order of Police, did the honors. continued

Are there any lessons to be learned from this, apart from the fact that, to paraphrase something I once read that L. Ron Hubbard wrote, if and individual were to act toward his fellows the way his governments do he would be labled criminally insane.

Really, the bottom line, is that as long as men and women have a Reactive Mind we can expect psychotic behavior on a personal and social level.

The incredible gift the L. Ron Hubbard gave to manking was the means to get rid of that part of the mind.

And lest someone thing that they should hang onto it, and preserve it, look at today's headlines. Or any day's.

I know that psychiatry is trying to get all of us to believe we are so crazy that the human condition has to be "medicated." But these meds do nothing to get to handle the bottom line.

Which is pretty crazy, considering LRH sewed it all up 56 years ago.

Here's what the notice on the Scientology Volunteer Ministers site says:

"With as many as 1,000 presumed dead in the aftermath of Typhoon Durian, the International Volunteer Ministers Coordinator has put out a call for volunteers and donations to help in the disaster relief effort.

"The coast of the Philippines was struck by the typhoon on Thursday the 30th of November. Landslides and floods set off by the storm are responsible for most of the deaths and the devastation. The country’s president has now declared a state of national calamity. continued Here's a video that tells more about the Scientology Volunteer Ministers movement:

You don't have to be a Scientologist to be part of the Scientology Volunteer Ministers team. Anyone can train on the techniques and be part of the disaster response action.

And if you can't go, contribute donations to make it possible for others to go.

AIDS is a terrible tragedy to the lives of those who have the disease and their friends and families. And it is a social tragedy. The spread of the disease, the cost in ruined lives, the fantastic costs projected to treat those infected and the futility -- and the contempt, distrust and fear with which so many of those afflicted are viewed.

It is up to each of us to help.

The Way to Happiness is something anyone can hand out, to help stem the epidemic. It is a common sense non-religious moral code. Written by L. Ron Hubbard, it is a way you can help others in every aspect of their lives, and addresses the issue of AIDs with a very simple solution.