I used to live just south of Clearwater Florida - one of the centers of Scientology. When they came to town they bought two or three of the largest buildings in Clearwater - a bank on Gulf-to-Bay Ave and a hotel on South Ft Harrison Ave - and they paid cash. That's all well and good - it's a free country if you have enough cash.

But this is what bothers me. It was widely reported in several newspapers that when the Scientologists moved out of an apartment complex - and into the Harrison Hotel - that they left several machine pistols behind in the apartments they vacated.

I can understand that when you move out of a place that you are liable to leave some things behind by mistake - but machine pistols ? If they forgot the machine guns - what did they remember to take ?? The bazookas ? Cannons ?

I guess I get a little suspicious when I see a hotel run by a "religious" order that has security guards packing .45's. Hmmm....