*bumping*
betterdaze
JoinedPosts by betterdaze
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10
New Atheist Group in NJ
by betterdaze intonight was our first meeting... had a fun time with some friendly, free-thinking atheist/humanists from diverse backgrounds.
2nd wednesdays each month.
book discussions, attending lectures, volunteering, outdoor activities like hiking were discussed.
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Satan is not that smart, is he?
by dgp ini was just reading brenda lee's "out of the cocoon" and found an idea that i share just to let some steam off.. according to the fable, satan (this guy .
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betterdaze
The reason he rebelled is mentioned in genesis: He wanted to be worshipped.
bohm, where is it mentioned in the book of Genesis? Can you point me to the scripture(s)?
~Sue -
10
New Atheist Group in NJ
by betterdaze intonight was our first meeting... had a fun time with some friendly, free-thinking atheist/humanists from diverse backgrounds.
2nd wednesdays each month.
book discussions, attending lectures, volunteering, outdoor activities like hiking were discussed.
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betterdaze
Tonight was our first meeting... had a fun time with some friendly, free-thinking atheist/humanists from diverse backgrounds.
2nd Wednesdays each month. Book discussions, attending lectures, volunteering, outdoor activities like hiking were discussed. Oddly enough, no human sacrifices.
Check it out here: Morristown Atheist Meetup
~Sue -
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What are you having for dinner tonite?
by Newborn inand do you normally eat more "nice" festive dinner on friday evenings?.
tonight i'm having tacos.
have a great weekend everybody and enjoy your mornings without any early meetings for field service.
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betterdaze
I like black walnuts, but not English.
Black ones are hard to find.
For Sylvia and others who favor a particular nut variety: http://www.nutsonline.com/
They began 80 years ago as a family business in Newark, NJ, so they really know nuts!
~Sue -
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Thanks for making me feel welcome.
by Rumspringa inhi, after a couple of years of 'lurking' i thought i'd join up.
i'm an ex-dub from vancouver island.
i've been out of the org for aprox' 10 yrs, after being in it for about 28 years.. i post on "jehovahs witness recovery forum" as 'nightgoat', so i thought i'd wander over here & see how you guys are doing.. recently under went some major shunning from parents & siblings & retaliated with a barrage of 'reverse-shunning' in an effort to teach them how to treat my wife & i.. hope i can be of some encouragement to any, on this board.. my daughter has been a member here for 3 yrs.
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betterdaze
Welcome, Rumspringa / Nightgoat!
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Obama Lifts H.I.V. Ban
by betterdaze inobama lifts a ban on entry into u.s. by h.i.v.-positive peopleby julia preston.
published: october 30, 2009. .
president obama on friday announced the end of a 22-year ban on travel to the united states by people who had tested positive for the virus that causes aids, fulfilling a promise he made to gay advocates and acting to eliminate a restriction he said was rooted in fear rather than fact.. .
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betterdaze
Obama Lifts a Ban on Entry Into U.S. by H.I.V.-Positive People
By JULIA PRESTON
Published: October 30, 2009
President Obama on Friday announced the end of a 22-year ban on travel to the United States by people who had tested positive for the virus that causes AIDS, fulfilling a promise he made to gay advocates and acting to eliminate a restriction he said was “rooted in fear rather than fact.”
At a White House ceremony, Mr. Obama announced that a rule canceling the ban would be published on Monday and would take effect after a routine 60-day waiting period. The president had promised to end the ban before the end of the year.
“If we want to be a global leader in combating H.I.V./AIDS, we need to act like it,” Mr. Obama said. “Now, we talk about reducing the stigma of this disease, yet we’ve treated a visitor living with it as a threat.”
The United States is one of only about a dozen countries that bar people who have H.I.V., the virus that causes AIDS.
President George W. Bush started the process last year when he signed legislation, passed by Congress in July 2008, that repealed the statute on which the ban was based. But the ban remained in effect.
It was enacted in 1987 at a time of widespread fear that H.I.V. could be transmitted by physical or respiratory contact. The ban was further strengthened by Congress in 1993 as an amendment offered by Senator Jesse Helms, Republican of North Carolina.
Because of the restriction, no major international conference on the AIDS epidemic has been held in the United States since 1990. Public health officials here have long said there was no scientific or medical basis for the ban.
Under the ban, United States health authorities have been required to list H.I.V. infection as a “communicable disease of public health significance.” Under immigration law, most foreigners with such a disease cannot travel to the United States. The ban covered both visiting tourists and foreigners seeking to live in this country.
Once the ban is lifted, foreigners applying to become residents in the United States will no longer be required to take a test for AIDS.
In practice, the ban particularly affected tourists and gay men. Waivers were available, but the procedure for tourists and other short-term visitors who were H.I.V. positive was so complicated that many concluded it was not worth it.
For foreigners hoping to immigrate, waivers were available for people who were in a heterosexual marriage, but not for gay couples. Gay advocates said the ban had led to painful separations in families with H.I.V.-positive members that came to live in this country, and had discouraged adoptions of children with the virus.
Gay advocates said the ban also discouraged travelers and some foreigners already living in the United States from seeking testing and medical care for H.I.V. infection.
“The connection between immigration and H.I.V. has frightened people away from testing and treatment,” said Rachel B. Tiven, executive director of Immigration Equality, a group that advocates for gay people in immigration matters. She said lifting the ban would bring “a significant public health improvement.”
“Stigma and exclusion are not a sound basis for immigration policy,” Ms. Tiven said.
Senator John Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts, who led the effort to repeal the ban, said it had now “gone the way of the dinosaur.”
But, Mr. Kerry added, “it sure took too long to get here.”
International health officials said lifting the ban would end a much-criticized inconsistency in United States health policy, with Washington playing a leading role in AIDS prevention in Africa and other countries with severe epidemics, but preserving restrictions that in practice prevented international AIDS researchers and activists from gathering at conferences here.In 1989, a Dutch AIDS educator, Hans Verhoef, was detained for several days in St. Paul when he tried to attend a conference. Since then, people involved with AIDS issues have not organized meetings here.
“We think this is going to give a very positive image of where the United States is going in terms of eliminating stigma and discrimination in relation to H.I.V.,” Dr. Socorro Gross, assistant director of the Pan American Health Organization, said Friday. -
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Bible Research help needed.
by cantleave inmy wife and i want to start looking afresh at the bible, go back to basics as it were.. what have people here found to be the best approach?.
what translations of the bible would you reccomend (i have the nwt).
what commentaries / texts have people found most useful?.
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betterdaze
http://www.studylight.org/
Interlinears, Parallels, Commentaries, Concordances, Lexicons, etc. plus a whole lot more... for free!~Sue
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Staying in Downtown Nairobi...
by Confession inthe latest blog post on my trip to kenya.... http://itravelalot.wordpress.com/2009/10/28/staying-downtown-nairobi/.
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betterdaze
Hi Confession, just a note to say I have been thoroughly enjoying you and your beautiful wife's travelogue. Thanks for sharing your journey with us!
Most of the first-hand experiences I heard about Africa came from JW missionaries... who never really seemed to connect with local people because they weren't family, but rather "the assignment."
This instead is the "real life" JW's are discouraged to postpone for themselves until... whenever. Glad to see you two are living it in the here and now.
~Sue -
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betterdaze
She also played "Sport" in a Twilight Zone episode called "The Bewitchin' Pool."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgoA66bmby4
~Sue -
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Living in the western "rich" world we are spoiled and don't understand harships! Agree?
by Witness 007 injust saw a documentary on bolivia how a woman gets up while it's dark, puts a barrel on her head and walks 10 miles to get water for the day from a filthy well we would not swim in!....thats what 1 billion or more people have to do everyday!
they also scavenge for a hand full of rice or dirty flour...meanwhile, i buy 4 litre "springwater" and run down to the supermarket to pick what fruit, vegetables, meat, i want to eat today.. our kids want nike shoes and ps 3 while there kids need food and medicine.....and clean water!
i jump in a nice car and complain about petrol prices, while they walk many miles a day to work and home......i think we are lucky but don't know it, just born on the good side of the world.. agree?.
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betterdaze
Revised formula puts 1 in 6 Americans in poverty
By HOPE YEN, Associated Press Writer
Tue Oct 20, 8:41 am ET
WASHINGTON – The level of poverty in America is even worse than first believed.
A revised formula for calculating medical costs and geographic variations show that approximately 47.4 million Americans last year lived in poverty, 7 million more than the government's official figure.
The disparity occurs because of differing formulas the Census Bureau and the National Academy of Science use for calculating the poverty rate. The NAS formula shows the poverty rate to be at 15.8 percent, or nearly 1 in 6 Americans, according to calculations released this week. That's higher than the 13.2 percent, or 39.8 million, figure made available recently under the original government formula.
That measure, created in 1955, does not factor in rising medical care, transportation, child care or geographical variations in living costs. Nor does it consider non-cash government aid when calculating income. As a result, official figures released last month by Census may have overlooked millions of poor people, many of them 65 and older.
According to the revised NAS formula:
_About 18.7 percent of Americans 65 and older, or nearly 7.1 million, are in poverty compared to 9.7 percent, or 3.7 million, under the traditional measure. That's due to out-of-pocket expenses from rising Medicare premiums, deductibles and a coverage gap in the prescription drug benefit.
_About 14.3 percent of people 18 to 64, or 27 million, are in poverty, compared to 11.7 percent under the traditional measure. Many of the additional poor are low-income, working people with transportation and child-care costs.
_Child poverty is lower, at about 17.9 percent, or roughly 13.3 million, compared to 19 percent under the traditional measure. That's because single mothers and their children disproportionately receive non-cash aid such as food stamps.
_Poverty rates were higher for non-Hispanic whites (11 percent), Asians (17 percent) and Hispanics (29 percent) when compared to the traditional measure. For blacks, poverty remained flat at 24.7 percent, due to the cushioning effect of non-cash aid.
_The Northeast and West saw bigger jumps in poverty, due largely to cities with higher costs of living such as New York, Boston, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
The Census Bureau said it expedited release of the alternative numbers for this month because of the interest expressed by lawmakers and the Obama administration in seeing a fuller range of numbers. Legislation pending in Congress would mandate a switch to the revised formula, although the White House could choose to act on its own.
Arloc Sherman, a senior researcher at the nonprofit Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, said that because the revised formula factors in non-cash government aid, the amount of increase in poverty from 2007 to 2008 was generally smaller compared to the current measure.
"Food stamp participation rose during the first year of recession and appears to have softened what could have been an even greater increase in financial hardship," he said.
Sherman said the revised formula could take on greater importance in measuring poverty for 2009 as more Americans take advantage of tax credits and food stamps under the federal stimulus program. Food stamp assistance currently is at an all-time high of about 36 million.