Posts by Mephis

71

Battle over contamination at Watchtower site in Warwick

by OrphanCrow in

http://www.recordonline.com/article/20151214/news/151219671.

battle over contamination at watchtower site in warwick.

by hema easley .

Mephis

Isn't there another similarly contaminated property in the UK which WT recently purchased?

The new Bethel they're doing here in Britain (Temple Farm) is on land which was waste, and needing cleaning, but nothing like this. Talking more scrap cars and waste from that. They did an ecological report and then came out saying they only needed to bury the contaminated soil. http://www.essexchronicle.co.uk/Jehovah-s-Witnesses-pen-paper-Temple-Farm/story-23348188-detail/story.html

Anyone aware of anything which points to the cost of them doing this clean-up?

8

Child Sexual Abuse and Jehovah’s Witnesses’ Rules – Part 1 of Gumshoe’s Royal Commission Series

by OrphanCrow in

child sexual abuse and jehovahs witnesses rules part 1 of gumshoes royal commission series.

this is a fairly lengthy article describing and examining the royal commission in australia.. the author ends the article with this:.

in general, we see, from watchtower australia, how depriving a person of fellowship was seen as a severe punishment.

Mephis

Still mulling over the very provocative question it poses. In effect, what we've seen from churches is willfully negligent, at best. If you're being told there is a major problem but handwaving it away, then, yeah, it is fair to ask what the reason is behind it. I'd be more inclined to think that for some institutions those harmed by their policies are nowhere near as important as their attempts to prevent damage to the 'brand'. Certainly historically that seems to have been a clear motivation. Children and women are the second-class citizens within some groups, and I wonder whether that is what we're seeing demonstrated by policies. Not that the aim is to harm, but that the institution really doesn't care that they are being harmed.

Thanks for posting OC.

44

What's More Important...Taking care of immigrants or the needy in your country?

by minimus in

jw
friends

i say take care of the needy ones first like our veterans and homeless and mentally ill, and then....take care of those not from this country.

Mephis

I've yet to really ask any rough sleepers I do outreach with for a passport. Not really the most important thing to be thinking about.

36

Care Home Exclusively for JW's "Inadequate" and "Unsafe".

by snugglebunny in

jw
friends

the home: http://www.jah-jireh.org/.

the independent report: http://www.cqc.org.uk/sites/default/files/new_reports/aaab3073.pdf.

Mephis

This is the regulator for care homes in England. As you can see, the Wigan home has also been labelled as needing to improve, with an inadequate rating in safety.

http://www.cqc.org.uk/provider/1-101662352

20

Nativity Scene in JW Literature

by Wild_Thing in

jw
friends

does anyone know if the jws have very printed a picture of, what might be considered, a nativity scene in any of their literature?

i think it would funny to create a christmas card using their own artwork!

haha!

Mephis

Thanks for link OC. Never seen those before.

23

Sales of Watchtower headquarters could total $1.2 billion, real estate pros predict

by MaybeSo in

we let the qualified buyers participate in a competitive bidding process and see where the market goes with it, devine told the eagle.. doesn't this logic reflect the same expectation of gambling or buying a lottery ticket?

you don't know if you are going to win big or if you're just going to come out even or lose your $1 investment.. how do they know there's not going to be another market or housing crash the next day and get pennies for their properties?.

how can they honestly say: "...see where the market goes with it" and at the same time condone other for playing lottery tickets or gambling or leaving things to chance like not getting higher education.

Mephis

I'd suggest the issue is precisely the same one I see with my own family. Armageddon is late. What few plans for that possibility have long since ran out of money. Stagnating numbers in affluent countries won't help with grandiose expansion plans on 'jehovah jireh' economic principles, and even less so with those who stay inside being less educated and less affluent and many starting to see retirement much closer on the horizon than the grand fireball fest. They can't afford to keep on bloating, so this is the transitioning into something more sustainable for a few more decades. Just what my money's on. Things like lawsuits will add to the problem for them. Even in dubland they surely must have already budgeted based on the money from selling these, and they're just getting the money some months earlier.

36

Care Home Exclusively for JW's "Inadequate" and "Unsafe".

by snugglebunny in

jw
friends

the home: http://www.jah-jireh.org/.

the independent report: http://www.cqc.org.uk/sites/default/files/new_reports/aaab3073.pdf.

Mephis

There's exemptions in discrimination law for things like this. They're a registered charity (so not a commercial outfit), they're providing a service to a specific religious group etc. Applies to all religions, so you can get Jewish care homes and so on. Recruitment may be a problem for them judging from comments about staffing levels in the report.

36

Care Home Exclusively for JW's "Inadequate" and "Unsafe".

by snugglebunny in

jw
friends

the home: http://www.jah-jireh.org/.

the independent report: http://www.cqc.org.uk/sites/default/files/new_reports/aaab3073.pdf.

Mephis

They're an independent charity as far as the British side of things is concerned, no ostensible relationship to WBTS other than them being JWs and only accepting JWs. They run 4 homes in Britain. Because they're working with the elderly, they get regularly checked by local authorities and even have unscheduled visits by other groups to check they're up to at least minimum standards.

36

Care Home Exclusively for JW's "Inadequate" and "Unsafe".

by snugglebunny in

jw
friends

the home: http://www.jah-jireh.org/.

the independent report: http://www.cqc.org.uk/sites/default/files/new_reports/aaab3073.pdf.

Mephis

Worrying report from their Blackpool home. It's almost a metaphor for how the borg runs internally. Everyone's very spiritual, but basic needs are neglected and no-one sees the individual, whilst management is clueless and puts people at risk of harm. But they think it's ok because no-one complains, and expressions of discontent are viewed as behavioural abnormalities.

They'll be forced to at least care for people safely in future in that care home.

16

2015 Tax Effective Giving brochure!

by Atlantis in

just for your records!.

2015 tax effective giving brochure..click the green download button.http://wwwb.fileflyer.com/view/7auljal..wtunderground!

Mephis

I really hate the fact that my taxes go to subsidise them. I really, really hate that my taxes go to subsidise them with so little transparency in what exactly it is spent on which justifies a 'charitable' gift aid top-up.

Question which intrigues me is what makes them choose to funnel things into IBSA over WBTS when they do that. IBSA's stated aims are not those given in that brochure. IBSA's stated aims are printing, providing literature and arranging conventions.They make minor charitable gifts according to their accounts, but £1.7m last year (of which £1.6m was cash to 'Europe') when taking in £22.5m. They're not fibbing as such, IBSA's MoA is a carte blanche really, but it just strikes me as odd that they're funneling cash into what primarily is the printing arm. But then IBSA is also where they tuck away other stuff too (eg information handling registration).

And these sort of little leaflets aren't new in Britain. The Gift Aid is something they really, really, really like. I remember seeing similar 20 years or so ago.