Scientology in Germany

Certainly not as we see it in America...Before I could teach in a German highschool, I had to affirm in an oath that I was not a Scientologist...Shades of Tom Cruise!!!

International Herald Tribune
German security officials again seek ban of Scientology

The Associated Press
Friday, December 7, 2007

BERLIN: Germany's top security officials said Friday that they considered the goals of the Church of Scientology to be in conflict with the principles of the country's Constitution and would seek to ban the organization.

The interior ministers of Germany's 16 states plan to give the domestic intelligence agency the task of preparing the necessary information to outlaw the organization, which has been under observation here for a decade on suspicions that it "threatens the peaceful democratic order" of the country.

The ministers, and the federal interior minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, "consider Scientology to be an organization that is not compatible with the Constitution," said Ehrhart Körting, interior minister of Berlin, who presided over a two-day conference.

Sabine Weber, president of the Church of Scientology in Berlin, said she viewed the renewed attempt to ban the organization as a reaction to increasing acceptance of Scientologists in several European countries.

"It is very, very clear that the true picture of what Scientology is about is pushing its way through," Weber said. "The interior ministers are clearly reacting to that."

Scientologists have long battled to end the federal surveillance effort, saying it abuses their rights to freedom of religion. They point to several lower-court rulings in favor of their right to practice in Germany as a religious organization.

The interior ministers gave no specific examples for their decision, but the most recent annual report on extremism compiled by their agencies criticized the organization for disregarding human rights.

That report said that based on "a number of sources," some of which were not disclosed publicly, it had been determined that Scientology "seeks to limit or rescind basic and human rights, such as the right to develop one's personality and the right to be treated equally."

This year, the German government refused to allow the producers of a movie starring Tom Cruise, an adherent of Scientology, to film scenes in the country, although it did not state Scientology as its reason. It later allowed production to go ahead.

The Church of Scientology, based in Los Angeles, was founded in 1954 by the science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard. It came to Germany in 1970 and officials estimate it now has about 6,000 members here.

Jounalism problems in Germany

The New York Times


August 10, 2007
Editorial
Harassing Germany’s Media

Germany would seem to be one of the last places to find the government trying to intimidate its journalists these days. News of secret C.I.A. flights that whisked prisoners through the Continent to places where torture is allowed has horrified many Europeans in recent years. The German courts have been in the forefront of condemning “extraordinary rendition” — the practice of loading terrorism suspects onto planes and secretly flying them to Afghanistan or Syria or other particularly dangerous spots for anyone behind bars.

A German court even issued a warrant in January for the arrest of 13 people said to be part of a Central Intelligence Agency “abduction team” involved in the kidnapping and jailing of a German citizen in 2003. Khaled el-Masri, a German of Lebanese descent, was seized in Macedonia and flown to Afghanistan where he was brutally interrogated for five months before being released without charges ever being filed.

Yet despite such widespread concern, the government is investigating at least 17 German journalists from top publications, like Der Spiegel and Die Welt, for their articles about a parliamentary committee investigating these renditions. World news media organizations, including the Committee to Protect Journalists, have rightly demanded an end to what amounts to political intimidation by the German authorities in these cases.

Such attempts to stop the reporting on this important subject not only work against the public interest, in Germany they appear to be illegal. The German high court earlier this year approved a shield law that should protect journalists from this kind of harassment — a protection that so far Congress has withheld from the American press. On the most basic level, if a government prosecutes journalists to find the names of their sources, those sources disappear, and journalists can be intimidated into giving up hard-hitting investigations. What goes on inside a government becomes more and more secret, which is bad news for democracy, and what’s left for the public are official press releases.

Miklós Haraszti, the representative focusing on media freedom for the Organization for the Security and Cooperation in Europe, had it right in his letter earlier this week to Germany’s Minister of Justice. “Initiating proceedings against the media merely in retaliation for their publishing, with the aim of deterring them from similar editorial decisions, is inadmissible in a society proud of its press freedoms.” Germany’s prosecutors should drop their attempts to intimidate their nation’s journalists.

Harvest time early summer

I have often mentioned that Germany is a land that does not have open spaces as in the USA. There is no remaining land that is not owned or belonging to a city or town. That being said, I can take a short walk from my apartment and within a few minutes see such sights as an early summer harvest as shown in the picture. I often take this route as it is a circle from apartment and back along the fields and a tree alley (Trees lining the road on both sides) which takes about 40 minutes. The advantage is I get my exercise and clear my head as well enjoying the familiar route while observing the changes of the seasons. I have photographed this area many times...

Today I read in the local paper that for every euro in Germany, 53 percent goes to the State and 47 percent for the individual who possesses it. The 53 percent is taxes, retirement, health insurance, church ( if you are a declared Lutheran or Catholic) added value tax, or whatever they figure they can take from that euro. Nevertheless, Germany is still the 3rd or 4th richest nation in the world.

Today was also a visit to my local dentist for a filling and on the wall of the office was this picture which was painted by a friend of the dentist. It depicts a land or large island in the shape of a tooth and all the landmarks have to do with aspects of dentistry. The Land is called "Dental Land". The two dentists names are shown as towns or areas and all the assistants are on the map. There are the molar islands to the right, and nerve rivers etc. My phone camera was used to take the picture and therefore it is too fuzzy to see the names. I will say that in between getting your teeth taken care of it is an interesting object similar to a Tolkien novel with its map to take your mind of that dreaded drill.

The picture of the beer garden and lake was taken a few weeks ago as I made an evening bicycle trip stopping off at one of my favorite "Watering" holes for a Bratwurst in a roll and naturally a "made in Hof" beer.

Monday in Germany

The weather has been a bit "anstaendig" which means it is nice and then suddenly rainy but for my garden everything is growing like in a tropical rainforest. I harvested one of the red currant bushes in my garden which was so heavy, part of the fruit was in the mud in the strawberry patch. Red currant jelly is fantastic as it has sweet sour taste and the currant berries are the best, fresh on vanilla ice cream or on cereal.

A busy weekend with rehearsals for an upcoming concert on Sunday and a sense of relief now that there was a compromise attributed to the German Chancelor Angela Merkel and Poland´s insistence on not ratifying a new treaty for the European Union. see link

belated blog

I have been remiss to publish my latest thoughts and reports from Germany and I will attempt to bring anyone up to date on what is happening. The Bavarian administration shot down the planned building of a bigger airport in Pirk which is our local airport and quite handy for getting to Frankfurt. It can only serve propeller planes and the lengthening would let us naturally go further than Munich or Frankfurt etc. There is a lot of politics involved as well as the financing but I heard today that Hof will shrink from about 48,000 to 40,000 inhabitants in the future which means money loss from the govt. and the EU. This will affect everything from culture to business and so ergo the need for an airport that can keep attracting tourism in and out, business etc. check this link out in English

Today I finally stirred my stumps and took a bike ride over to the lake which has a great beer garden and one can refuel for the journey home.

We are having hot, humid weather lately which is traditionally more in the middle of July early August. The good news is that I can plant tomatoes outside instead of only in my green house. Here is a picture of my strawberry patch which has been yielding the sweet fruit since the end of May.

The next letter will discuss the problem of Poland, Germany and the EU.

preserving the ice

The long dry spell is over and finally the garden will get enough water. I noticed an article in the newspaper and this picture of workers covering the glacier at the Zugspitze in Germany. The purpose is not to save the glacier but at least to get 15 more years of skiing if all goes well. They had to begin a week earlier than usual as a result of the abnormally hot April. ( hottest in 200 years )

Do it yourself shopping

Today I was at the butchers down the road to pick up some fresh ground meat for a chili dish that I will be making tomorrow. You can go to the supermarket or chain store like in the States but you don´t know where the meat comes from. I know at my local store that the meat is from locally slaughtered cattle even if it is trucked in from some other area of Germany or the European Union. The wurst or coldcuts are made locally and so one has a feeling of some sort of security. The act of going is also different in some ways than shopping at the big supermarket in the USA. It is down the street and the place is small so bumping into neighbors is more likely. You have to stand in line most of the times as the butcher that I shop at is quite popular and is known for its quality of offerings. You can even pick up a wine or pasta to accompany your selection of meat with tips and offerings of the week. I like the feeling and today as is always on Fridays and Saturday mornings there is a fruit and vegetable stand outside. The fun thing about this sort of business is the proprietors really hawk their produce and make commments about the taste and freshness of whatever they are selling. You get instant commentary which again makes for a feeling of being connected to the food chain. A good produce seller enhances the business takein as well as I think ensuring that the best product is being offered to the customer. Next to the butcher is a bakery so in a sense you can find most of what you need for a breakfast buffet or evening meal. The bread is baked fresh daily and there is a myriad of different types including sweet rolls and cakes.
I think that in the long run it is also more environmentally friendly.