Posts by Defender

" said one jw elder i spoke to on the phone yesterday.. he said that there was a sister that has been a jw for more than 50 years that said "at last, something is hapenning.".

(btw, he told me that most congregations in the us have been instructed that when talking to people, they should not bring up the issues of blood or neutrality.

Defender

"Although the terrorist attack was horrific, but I must admit its exciting!" said one JW elder I spoke to on the phone yesterday.

He said that there was a sister that has been a JW for more than 50 years that said "At last, something is hapenning."

(BTW, he told me that most congregations in the US have been instructed that when talking to people, they should not bring up the issues of blood or neutrality.) Can anyone confirm this?

I am sure many JWs shared the same sentiments as the above elder. A couple of years ago, I would have expressed similar comments.

This is due to the fact that JWs are conditioned to associate world affairs to the sign of Jesus' presence. This is precisely what Jesus instructed his true followers NOT to do. Not wanting to disappoint them was his motive. But disapointment was definitely what was experienced by JWs who associated events leading up to and including WWI to be somehow linked to Jesus' return.

Another disappointment was in store after the 1925 debacle, although no major world event took place then. Only the speculations if not false prophecies of Judge Rutherford were the culprit.

Then, it was WWII. If the dropping of atomic bombs and the instant killings of a hundred thousand civilians in their homes could not be interpreted as a divine sign of some sort, I do not know what else could be. Yet, that too, was not it.

The Cold War, that was born even before WWII was concluded, was heralded by JW writings as the last phase of the ongoing biblical struggle of King of The North and King of the South and would culminate in Armageddon. The Cold War ended in 1989.

Since then, the US fought in Grenada, Panama, Gulf War, Somalia, Yugoslavia and due to last week's terrorist attack, another war is looming with Afghanistan.

The world was shocked last week by the killing of thousands of innocent people only because they were able to see it live on television. More than half a million were slaughtered to death in Rawanda and the world, comparatively speaking, did not blink an eye. in Zaire, formerly known as Congo, more than one million persons are believed to have been killed in the past year alone and the killings are ongoing.

War on Terrorism will be a long ongoing struggle, very much like the war on drugs, the war on crime and the war on organised crime. Sometime in the future, another conflict might raise its ugly head, and the drums of war will beat again.

The point is that if a Christian is truly waiting for the return of his Lord and Master, then a sure recipe for disappointment is observing wars and conflicts as a sign.

3

War On God

by Defender in

jw
friends

last week's horrific terrorist attack has been attributed as an act of war on the us committed by bin laden's network.

president bush is now mobilising the military and a global coalition to wage a "war on terrorism", specifically targeted is bin laden.. the question is if last week's event had been a massive earthquake that had hit manhattan and demolished it completely with hundred of thousands of casualty, and since earthquakes, according to insurance speak, are an "act of god", will the us then declare a "war on god"?

Defender

Last week's horrific terrorist attack has been attributed as an act of war on the US committed by Bin Laden's network. President Bush is now mobilising the military and a global coalition to wage a "War on Terrorism", specifically targeted is Bin Laden.

The question is if last week's event had been a massive earthquake that had hit Manhattan and demolished it completely with hundred of thousands of casualty, and since earthquakes, according to insurance speak, are an "act of God", will the US then declare a "War On God"?

1

British Media

by Defender in

jw
friends

us media establishments such as cnn and abc are really indespensable in providing news coverage, but if i wanted to get more insightful news, background and slighly more balanced views, i turn to the british media.

the economist is one good example.. check this site from the guardian .

x http://www.guardian.co.uk/afghanistan/0,1284,548335,00.html.

Defender

US media establishments such as CNN and ABC are really indespensable in providing news coverage, but if I wanted to get more insightful news, background and slighly more balanced views, I turn to the British media. The Economist is one good example.

Check this site from the Guardian

x http://www.guardian.co.uk/afghanistan/0,1284,548335,00.html
( I don't know why the whole link is not hyperlinked)

Here is another try
http://www.guardian.co.uk/afghanistan/0,1284,548335,00.html

A different perspective

by Defender in

jw
friends

"attack on america" - a personal response.

> my wife jo, my dog wasabi, and myself were all in new york city.

thankfully we.

Defender

A co-worker sent me this:

"Attack on America" - a Personal Response
> by Sean Hastings
>
> My wife Jo, my dog Wasabi, and myself were all in New York City
> at the time of the attack on the World Trade Center. Thankfully we
> are all alive and unharmed.
>
> Although we were just a few miles from the site of the crashes,
> we were alerted to what was going on by a friend's phone call and
> turned on the news to watch. Safely insulated from it all by the
> magic of television, we saw the Twin Towers burn and collapse
> knowing that tens of thousands of people were probably still inside.
> Later, as we were able to get through on a somewhat overloaded
> telephone network, we called our friends and family around the world
> to assure them that we were safe, and we called our New York friends
> to make sure that they too were ok.
>
> Some friends I talked to personally witnessed the second jet
> strike the tower and saw people leaping to their deaths to escape
> the flames. One told me the story of a London office connected to
> its New York branch in the World Trade Center by a live video link.
> Their trapped co-workers told them that they were unable to leave
> the building, and that they knew they were all going to die, then
> the screen went blank at the same time as the TV news showed one of
> the towers collapse.
>
> Communications technology has brought this tragedy to all of us
> more closely than was ever before possible. An entire nation, and
> perhaps most of the world was able to watch these events unfold in
> real time. Feedback of reactions from around the world was also
> available in real time. Most people were shocked and horrified, but
> I also saw reports of people in some countries cheering and
> celebrating this attack on the US. My first reaction was very
> emotional - I found myself thinking "Bomb them back into the stone
> age" - and this shocked me. I consider myself to be an individualist
> to the core, but I now know that a blind loyalty to the group does
> exists somewhere deep inside me. At that moment, I would have been
> willing to unthinkingly follow anyone claiming to know how to justly
> avenge these acts, and prevent any more such in the future.
>
> Then I saw the start of the political rhetoric - various
> politicians declaring that this was a time for supporting our
> leaders, and not questioning or second-guessing their actions - law
> enforcement officials saying that this was precisely why they all
> needed greater powers over my life. Before the fires were even out -
> while people were still burning and being crushed to death under
> tons of rubble - there were already people trying to use my
> emotional reaction to increase their power over my life and further
> their careers.
>
> It was then that I realized that I was witnessing a very real
> threat to our nation and our way of life. Not from the kind of
> disturbed people who crash airplanes into buildings, but from people
> who would use such an event to further erode our freedoms - those
> masters of demagoguery who, while claiming to be the good guys, and
> in the name of defending our country, our freedom, and our way of
> life, will try to take away everything this country is supposed to
> be about. Even those with only the best of intentions may severely
> jeopardize our liberty at a time like this if they are not careful
> to give the freedom we tend to take for granted the highest priority
> in considering any course of action.
>
> So I know that a hoard of voices will now be crying out for your
> attention, trying to use this event to convince you that we should
> take whatever course of action most benefits their own position. I
> know that my voice is just a small one in this cacophony, and unless
> you agree with my message and forward it far and wide, I will
> scarcely be noticed. But I will speak my advice anyway, and hope it
> does some good. All I have to say to you is this:
>
> Do not let your natural reactions of fear or anger help ANYONE to
> further their short term political goals, or impose any "temporary"
> measures. These are frightening and enraging times indeed, but it is
> important to keep this simple truth firmly in mind: You cannot
> defend freedom by reducing freedom. The people who try to tell you
> otherwise are the ones who should frighten and anger you most.
>
> We all want security and justice, but we must to be careful about
> the price we are willing to pay. If we allow these tragic events to
> lead to a reduction of our freedom, then the bad guys win.
>
> --Sean Hastings
> --New York, Sept 12, 2001
> --mailto: [email protected]
>
> Please forward, summarize, quote, alter, or in any other way use this
> text, in whole or part, as you choose. It is placed into the public
> domain with no rights reserved or implied.
> . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

16

Layed Off!

by Defender in

jw
friends

no matter how you think you are ready for such an eventuality, it still remains stressful when it finally does happen.. until last friday, i worked as a systems engineer for a large canadian telecom equipment manufacturer that has been laying off thousands of employees.

their target was 30,000 and they are almost there.

i dont know, but maybe my number was 25,879...or something.. anyone out there works or used to work for this company?

Defender

Jelly,

This is something the boys put together, you may find this interesting...

NORTEL TO CUT WORKFORCE 120 PERCENT

NEW YORK, N.Y. - Nortel will reduce its workforce by an unprecedented 120 percent by the end of 2001, believed to be the first time a major corporation has laid off more employees than it actually has.

Nortel stock soared more than 12 points on the news.
The reduction decision, announced Wednesday, came after a year-long internal review of cost-cutting procedures, said Nortel Chairman and CEO John Roth. The initial report concluded the company would save $1.2 billion by eliminating 20 percent of its 80,000 employees.

From there, said Roth, "it didn't take a genius to figure out that if we cut 40 percent of our workforce, we'd save $2.4 billion, and if we cut 100 percent of our workforce, we'd save $6 billion. But then we thought, why stop there? Let's cut another 20 percent and save $7 billion.

"We believe in increasing shareholder value, and we believe that by decreasing expenditures, we enhance our competitive cost position and our bottom line," he added.

Nortel plans to achieve the 100 percent internal reduction through layoffs, attrition and early retirement packages. To achieve the 20 percent in external reductions, the company plans to involuntarily downsize 22,000 non-Nortel employees who presently work for other companies.

"We pretty much picked them out of a hat," said Roth.
Among firms Nortel has picked as "External Reduction Targets," or ERTs, are AT&T, AMR Corporation, parent of American Airlines, WorldCom, and Charles Schwab & Co. Nortel's plan presents a "win-win" for the company and ERTs, said Roth, as any savings by ERTs would be passed on to Nortel, while the ERTs themselves would benefit by the increase in stock price that usually accompanies personnel cutback announcements.

"We're also hoping that since, over the years, we've been really helpful to a lot of companies, they'll do this for us kind of as a favor," said Roth.

Legally, pink slips sent out by Nortel would have no standing at ERTs unless those companies agreed. While executives at ERTs declined to comment, employees at those companies said they were not inclined to cooperate.

"This is ridiculous. I don't work for Nortel. They can't fire me," said Kaili Blackburn, a flight attendant with American Airlines.

Reactions like that, replied Roth, "are not very sporting."
Inspiration for Nortel's plan came from previous cutback initiatives, said company officials. In November of 2000, for instance, the company announced it would trim 10,000 jobs over the next year. However, just a few months later, Nortel said it had already reached its quota. "We were quite surprised at the number of employees willing to leave Nortel in such a hurry, and we decided to build on that," Roth said.

Analysts credited Roth's short-term vision, noting that the announcement had the desired effect of immediately increasing Nortel share value. However, the long-term ramifications could be detrimental, said Bear Stearns analyst Beldon McInty.

"It's a little early to tell, but by eliminating all its employees, Nortel may jeopardize its market position and could, at least theoretically, cease to exist," said McInty.

John Roth, however, urged patience: "To my knowledge, this hasn't been done before, so let's just wait and see what happens."

16

Layed Off!

by Defender in

jw
friends

no matter how you think you are ready for such an eventuality, it still remains stressful when it finally does happen.. until last friday, i worked as a systems engineer for a large canadian telecom equipment manufacturer that has been laying off thousands of employees.

their target was 30,000 and they are almost there.

i dont know, but maybe my number was 25,879...or something.. anyone out there works or used to work for this company?

Defender

No matter how you think you are ready for such an eventuality, it still remains stressful when it finally does happen.

Until last Friday, I worked as a Systems Engineer for a large Canadian telecom equipment manufacturer that has been laying off thousands of employees. Their target was 30,000 and they are almost there. I don’t know, but maybe my number was 25,879…or something.

Anyone out there works or used to work for this company? Those who do, would know which company I am talking about.

Had this happened a year ago, it would not be that problematic, the economy was doing ok and one found jobs easily. Now, there are thousands upon thousands of hi tech prospectors out there and companies are becoming choosier. Maybe this is so in Canada, I am not sure how the situation is in the US.

When I look at available positions, I check mark the requirements against my skills and almost always I keep finding a requirement or two that I do not match.

Oh well, maybe its time to go back to school or start my own business or better yet… start a new religion.

Just When You Thought It Was Safe To...

by Defender in

jw
friends

.. http://albums.photopoint.com/j/view?u=1769930&a=13671380&p=53312445&sequence=0&res=high

Defender

.. http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=1769930&a=13671380&p=53312445&Sequence=0&res=high

Guess who should pay for church lawsuits?

by Defender in

jw
friends

.

http://www.nationalpost.com/search/story.html?f=/stories/20010815/646694.html&qs=anglican%20church

Defender

. http://www.nationalpost.com/search/story.html?f=/stories/20010815/646694.html&qs=anglican%20church