Posts by katiekitten

31

Would you ski if you were pregnant.

by Es in

jw
friends

hey all, we are heading off to the snow for the weekend, i havnt been in three years and are eagerly looking forward to it all, esp my kids having heaps of fun.. anyway i have pretty much decided not to ski as i have just found out im pregnant, im a pretty confident skiier i guess its the other people you have to worry about.

when i tried to look at information whether or not it was a good idea it seemed 50\50.. just wondering what would you do or if you have skiied whilst pregnant?.

es.

katiekitten

I would up until maybe 5 to 5 1/2 months. After that bump just gets in the way.

I body surfed last time I was pregnant (4 months I think). But I kept rolling off the board!

I went backapacking in Iceland 2 weeks ago at 6 months pregnant. Admittedly this didnt involve skiing, but it did involve pulling a suitcase and tent around, camping in a storm in a leaky tent and doing about a 1/2hour climb up a steep hill pulling all my luggage.

If youve been healthy so far I think being pregnant isnt as delicate state as its made out to be. After all women work physically hard in 3rd world countries nearly right up until the birth. And then afterwards there right back out in the fields with babies strapped to their backs. Im not advocating it as a good idea, but I think the human body is more reslilent that we think. I guess only you know how healthy you are. I seem to have textbook pregnancies so im not too worried about losing my babies. I can see for some women pregnancy is a most delicate time.

Good luck whatever you do.

23

The 16 sexual abuse cases settled this year

by WTNightmare00 in

jw
friends

i am puzzled about two key factors.

one is the fact that the victims agreed to settle out of court, and two, they agreed to a gag order.

those two key factors there, tells me something as i am sure it will tell you something as well.

katiekitten

Its true, and the lawyers play heavily on that.

They know by the time you have got a date fixed and you are at the court house you are emotionally wrung out and exhausted. Its like being offered a comfy bed after a month of sleepless nights in a thunderstorm in a leaky tent.

They play heavily on how hard its going to be in court, and that the oppositions lawyers are going to questioning you really toughly. Now this wasnt a problem for us because it was a fairly emotionless issue, but if it was a sexual abuse case it would mean you having to relive every horrible little detail in a court full of men, being questioned by a man whose job it was to make you look like a total liar.

Plus, if they have offered a settlement they have accepted liability, whether they say they have or not. All of a sudden the only issue left is how much money the court is going to award. They have already worked out how much the court will award based on previous cases. They say 'look we are offering you what you would get in court anyway without all the hassle, and without the worrying possibility that it might not go your way. So what are you going into court for? If you go into court you will only get what we are offering, you have to re-live the whole thing, you might end up with nothing cos weve got the best lawyers money can buy, and you might end up with less than nothing when we apply for our costs'.

Its so tempting. In fact it amazing that any cases ever get to court in the first place.

26

Anyone recall the WTS's crazy notions about the literal "heart"?

by fahrvegnugen in

back in my dub days, i used to make copies of all the old recorded talks i could get my hands on.

in the process i was surprised to come across several talks in which the "faithful slave" tried to make the case that all the scriptures talking about the "heart" were not figurative, but referred to one's literal heart--the organ itself!

as i recall, they even incorporated some pseudo-scientific quotes as "proof" that the heart could effect your thoughts and motivations.

katiekitten

They alleged that the recipient of a heart transplant would take on personality and behavioral traits of the donor

I remember this being preached in the 70's, when I was a kid, and i absolutely believed it. It sort of supported the blood doctrine too, because it made it seem like a really bad idea to have transplants, which used to inevitably involve blood back then.

Sigh - shakes head in embarrassment.

23

The 16 sexual abuse cases settled this year

by WTNightmare00 in

jw
friends

i am puzzled about two key factors.

one is the fact that the victims agreed to settle out of court, and two, they agreed to a gag order.

those two key factors there, tells me something as i am sure it will tell you something as well.

katiekitten

Gagging orders are absolutely standard practice for out of court settlements.

Also, you wouldnt believe the pressure that is put on plaintiffs to settle out of court. Its not just the amount of money offered, its the legal pressure put on plaintiffs by persuasive and bullying lawyers.

When my partner sued the police, even though he had a water tight case, all the other plaintiffs made out of court settlements for a very small amount of money. How did they do it? Because we were threatened that if we did not settle the court would view us as unreasonable, and the other side would apply for us to pay thousands of ££££ in costs, and because we were being unreasonable by not settling it was highly likely that we would be landed with the costs.

We were told we were being unreasonable because they were not contesting that they were at fault, and therefore by offering us an out of court settlement they were saving court time. They said the court would only award what they were offering anyway (which turned out to be true) and that by insisting on a court hearing instead of accepting an out of court settlement we would be deemed to be wasting the courts time, and this would make the court view us very dimly.

As all the other plaintiffs fell one by one as the clock ticked towards the hearing (it was a joint case) the pressure on us to accept out of court grew and grew. We didnt, and as threatened we were only awared what they had offered us anyway, AND they made an application for their costs to be paid - which would have wiped us out. I was nearly in tears. The judges adjourned to consider the application and luckily it was denied.

But I can see how plaintiffs may easily be bullied into accepting out of court. Its not always about having a water tight case. There are many other legal considerations that are not to do with the actual details of the case.

27

Suddenly and inexplicably enraged

by katiekitten in

jw
friends

my mum showed me this e-mail her jw friend had sent her last week.. in it the friend explained how wonderful the magazines are and how they provide food at the proper time because they had recently had an article in about ' being prepared for the unexpected'.

the article had told them to have a bag packed with emergency stuff in case they ever needed to leave the house in a hurry.

so they were told to pack dried food, a wallet with important documents in, waterproof clothing etc.. now this, it seems, was pretty relevant because i live in gloucester where were had terrible floods a few weeks ago, and some peoples houses were flooded out, the entire city had its water cut off for a fortnight because the pumping station flooded, and most work places were unable to allow staff in because they were not able to provide flushing toilets or running water.. so my mims friend was totally blown away by how jehovah is so clever - although having dried food and your passport in a waterproof wallet did nothing to help you flush the toilet for a fortnight.. but - now heres to point of this long and rambling story - i suddenly got super angry about this article and its survivialist mentalilty.

katiekitten

As a child I was fascinated with WW2 stories of Jews and others persecuted under Hitler. I figured I needed to know some practical skills to get through it.

Me too!

I just lived in fear without even the bean stuffed dolls for backup!

Now THAT is really cruel. At least I had my stuffed frog.

I am NEVER going to do that to a child of mine.

I agree. It really sinks in what a lousy trick it was once you have had kids of your own and then you cant even think of putting them through it.

Pubsinger: No mums not a Witless anymore, but annoyingly shes morphed into something worse - someone who still believes in Jehovah and Armageddon and all that stuff without being a JW. This means she 'interprets' the bible on based on her 'own reading' of the bible, which amazingly is exactly the same as the JW interpretation.

Yes I went to Iceland. What can I say? Dont go back packing round Iceland when you are 6 months pregnant, is possibly the best lesson learned! It was an interesting expericence though, that pushed me right out of my comfort zone!

19

I'm just curious

by RAF in

.

i'm just curious to get the point ... what did you find the most satisfying in your relationship (i mean serious relationship which is supposed to last) with your other half after 5 to 10 years:.

a listing would be nice in the preferential order like.

katiekitten

In no particular order:

1. Makes me laugh

2. I respect him (thought he was an imature a-hole at first because he was an imature a-hole!)

3. very kind and tolerant with my daughter

4. does house work without me asking

5. has changed and grown as a human being beyond all recognition (see point 2)

33

My Sister's Visit

by Sunspot in

most of you know that my family disowned me in 1972 when i was baptized into the wts.

i have only one sibling, a kid sister .

i was thrilled, but nervous, not having a clue how things would go and trying to keep in mind all the things i should not say as well as things i was eager to find out about, concerning the rest of the family i have had no contact with.. the moment we laid eyes on each other (and recovered frm the gigundo hug), it all went just great!!!

katiekitten

Wow, how wonderful to regain a sister.

Well done.

33

My Sister's Visit

by Sunspot in

most of you know that my family disowned me in 1972 when i was baptized into the wts.

i have only one sibling, a kid sister .

i was thrilled, but nervous, not having a clue how things would go and trying to keep in mind all the things i should not say as well as things i was eager to find out about, concerning the rest of the family i have had no contact with.. the moment we laid eyes on each other (and recovered frm the gigundo hug), it all went just great!!!

katiekitten

Wow, how wonderful to regain a sister.

Well done.

27

Suddenly and inexplicably enraged

by katiekitten in

jw
friends

my mum showed me this e-mail her jw friend had sent her last week.. in it the friend explained how wonderful the magazines are and how they provide food at the proper time because they had recently had an article in about ' being prepared for the unexpected'.

the article had told them to have a bag packed with emergency stuff in case they ever needed to leave the house in a hurry.

so they were told to pack dried food, a wallet with important documents in, waterproof clothing etc.. now this, it seems, was pretty relevant because i live in gloucester where were had terrible floods a few weeks ago, and some peoples houses were flooded out, the entire city had its water cut off for a fortnight because the pumping station flooded, and most work places were unable to allow staff in because they were not able to provide flushing toilets or running water.. so my mims friend was totally blown away by how jehovah is so clever - although having dried food and your passport in a waterproof wallet did nothing to help you flush the toilet for a fortnight.. but - now heres to point of this long and rambling story - i suddenly got super angry about this article and its survivialist mentalilty.

katiekitten

thank you everyone for such kind words.

Its funny isnt it, what gets to you.

My mum said "I thought you were all over this", and I shouted "SO DID I"!!!

My daughter said "OK, can we change channels now?" (out of the mouth of babes...)

10

mum heard on the radio...

by dobbie in

jw
friends

that in britain and scotland they have been having trial areas where cold callers including religious callers are banned, mainly to protect the elderly because there are so many scammers.

apparently the government are now seriously thinking about extending it all over.

would'nt it be great not to worry about them coming knocking at the door?they'd probably just all congregate in the streets and try to catch you that way lol!

katiekitten

WOW - thats a great story, and a great idea too, especially as it seems to have worked in cutting down on crime.

But its true the Dubs will only ever have one explanation for it...