Posts by SnakesInTheTower

12

THE HORROR!

by Terry in

jw
friends

i've been having fun this week with my yamaha motif es6 electronic keyboard.. i was just thinking what it must be like going back to a kingdom hall and this composition was inspired!.

.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1595587/barryesques/the%20horror%21.mp3.

SnakesInTheTower

...I like it...

and yeah... I ain't goin' back...

Snakes (Rich )

6

there is a video that went viral and hit #7 on time magazine's top viral videos of 2009. as of this post, it had hit 8.1 million plus views since it was posted july 6, 2009.. it is a country music style song parody of united airlines treatment of his expensive taylor guitar.

he has since done the other 2 videos in the trilogy.

i don't usually like country music, but i liked ths.. this little incident cost united $180 million dollars in the value of its stock in 4 days.... http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/chris_ayres/article6722407.ece i have not checked the veracity of that particular claim, but if true...damn.. united breaks guitars (posted 7/6/2009 -- 8.1 millions views as of 3/18/2010).

SnakesInTheTower

TM ...I hate flying for that very reason...

...one of my really bad experiences was flying to India in 2006.... one of my suitcases arrived 3 days after my arrival. Good thing, 'cause my then fiancee broke it off and I was on a different airline 3 days later...with all my luggage.

I got stuck at Ohare once in 2007 coming back from Cayman Islands. Flight was Cayman to Miami...transfer to another plane to Chicago...changes planes again to get to St. Louis. I got held up in Miami because of wind in Chicago.... so Miami was told to wait there.....I asked if I could take a different (and direct) flight to St. Louis...told no....even though there was room on the plane.....and the worst part....

...the plane to Chicago was the very same damn plane I had just gotten off of from Miami and was going on to St. Louis!

I ended up in Chicago too late for my connecting St. Louis flight...so I had to sleep in the terminal... not beyond the security gates where there were lots of seats and carpeting...no...out by the ticket counters ...hardly any seats...and hard floors... not enough time to get a hotel at their expense.... that was a long day...

did I mention I hate flying?

Snakes (Rich )

102

"All Black People Must Leave"

by snowbird in

http://www.blackamericaweb.com/?q=articles/news/moving_america_news/17179.

lol.. i've heard worse!.

sylvia.

SnakesInTheTower

snowbird...

I think they also had to hire a VP for race or minorities or something.. (oh..."chief diversity officer...according to another article .)

Denny's paid $54 million (1994).... article . ...copied below...

Snakes (Rich )

ps....I hate Wal-Mart and refuse to patronize them. They are a sh*tty company that treats their workers like crap. My fiancee worked for them very briefly years ago. She won't go there either. No reason with the internet that one cannot search for and order whatever one needs. I feel bad for communities where WM is the only game in town.

May 25, 1994

Denny's Restaurants to Pay $54 Million in Race Bias Suits

By STEPHEN LABATON,

WASHINGTON, May 24— Denny's, a national restaurant chain, agreed today to pay more than $54 million to settle lawsuits filed by thousands of black customers who had been refused service or had been forced to wait longer or pay more than white customers.

The new head of the civil rights division of the Justice Department, Deval L. Patrick, said it was the largest and broadest settlement under the Federal public-accommodation laws. Those laws were adopted more than 30 years ago to end segregation in restaurants and other places that serve the public.

The agreement, worked out among Government lawyers and lawyers representing Denny's and its customers, ended Federal class-action lawsuits in Baltimore and in San Jose, Calif., and a complaint in Virginia. Those actions were filed on behalf of thousands of black customers who had asserted that Denny's violated their civil rights by treating them rudely and by routinely giving preferential treatment to whites.

In one instance, a black Federal judge from Houston and his wife who had been traveling for 18 hours said they were forced to wait at a Denny's in Yreka, Calif., for almost an hour as white teen-agers taunted them and referred to them as "niggers."

In another case, six black Secret Service agents assigned to President Clinton's detail were refused a table at a Denny's in Annapolis. Md., while their white Secret Service colleagues were seated and served.

For more than three years Denny's, a subsidiary of Flagstar Companies of Spartanburg, S.C., has been the target of growing complaints that its restaurants segregated blacks or required them to pre-pay or make various payments not required of white patrons.

The company denied that it had a policy of discrimination, but it nonetheless promised to take immediate steps to prevent shabby treatment of its black customers.

Some executives said they feared the publicity had begun to discourage blacks, who represent 10 percent of the chain's customers, from eating at the 1,500 Denny's restaurants. In all, more than 4,300 claims were filed as part of the class-action suits asserting that the company had treated black customers worse than whites.

Under today's settlement, how much each customer receives from Denny's will depend on how many people come forward within the next few months.

In addition to the cash payment and the promise to improve its treatment of blacks, the company agreed to hire Sharon Lybeck Hartmann, a Los Angeles lawyer with a background in civil rights, to enforce the consent decree and to monitor any civil rights problems that may arise. It also promised to begin a program in which blacks posing as customers would investigate whether Denny's restaurants were discriminating.

"With today's action, the message is clear: there will be a high price to pay for unlawful indignities, and the Justice Department will exact that price wherever the law is violated," Mr. Patrick said. "Unfair standards employed by restaurants must no longer be standard fare."

The settlements also suggested that after more than a year without a leader, the civil rights division at the Justice Department may be beginning a more active period. The division suffered a bruising political setback when President Clinton withdrew the nomination of Lani Guinier last year to head the division. Mr. Clinton left the position vacant for the first 15 months of his Administration.

Through much of the last year, the division also faced criticism from New York Democrats and Republicans for its handling of its investigation into the 1991 disturbances in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn.

Moreover, today's settlements reflected a revived partnership between civil rights and Government lawyers that had disappeared during the Reagan and Bush Administrations.

The two Federal suits settled today had been filed under Title II of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which is known as the Public Accommodations Act. The law was often used in the 1960's and 70's to eliminate lingering segregation problems, but in the last decade it has not been widely cited.

Last year another restaurant chain, Shoney's, agreed to pay $105 million to thousands of black employees and job applicants to settle a discrimination case, but that case did not involve customers or the public-accommodations law.

Lawyers for some of the black customers said today that they had begun to uncover evidence that the thousands of cases were not random but reflected a pervasive attitude of discrimination that permeated Denny's management.

"We believe that there was, at the company, an attitude that went into the management level, but we don't know exactly how high," said John Relman, a lawyer for the Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights. "This attitude at the company, at the management level and working its way down, had the effect of causing discriminatory attitudes going down to the lowest levels of the company." Training to Deal WIth Blacks

Another lawyer, Mari Mayeda, said that during pretrial fact-finding a former manager had testified about training sessions in which managers were told how to deal with what was considered too many blacks in a restaurant at one time. Ms. Mayeda said the company's code word for such occasions was a "blackout."

But Jerome J. Richardson, the chairman and chief executive of Flagstar, denied that there was any policy to discriminate against blacks.

"These settlements are not an admission that Denny's has had a policy or practice of discrimination against African Americans," he said. At a news conference in Washington, he sought to portray the incidents as random and not part of a corporate strategy.

"We serve one million customers a day at Denny's and we have 40,000 employees," Mr. Richardson said. "It would be naive on my part to say that customers are always satisfied."

Within the last year, Mr. Richardson said, the company has taken significant steps to prevent discrimination at its restaurants, including training and random checking. It has also hired Norman J. Hill, a black executive, to head its human resources department.

But the portrait of the chain presented by some customers today suggested that it had been plagued by racial problems.

Kristina Ridgeway was 17 years old when she walked into a Denny's in San Jose in 1991 with 17 other teen-agers after attending a college forum sponsored by the San Jose chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. The restaurant demanded a cover charge in addition to a prepayment for the meal, even though several white classmates did not have to make such payments.

"I was very upset," Ms. Ridgeway said. "Both my parents are from the South and they had to grow up with this kind of thing, and they would always tell me that I wouldn't have to deal with stuff like this."

In another case in California, Rachel Thompson recalled how Denny's offered a free meal for anyone on a birthday and how she had brought proof of her 13th birthday to a family gathering in Vallejo. The restaurant refused to accept a baptismal certificate with Rachel's date of birth on it.

"They just said that wasn't enough and made a big scene," she said. "I felt embarrassed. It was humiliating because other families in there were looking at us, and I guess they thought we were some kind of bad criminals."

And some incidents occurred as recently as last year, even as the company was trying to resolve accusations of discrimination.

In April 1993, Denny's agreed as part of a consent decree to settle a Federal suit in California to take steps to end discrimination. But the same day it entered that consent decree, the Denny's in Annapolis refused to serve the six black Secret Service agents. They later sued in Federal court in Baltimore, and the case in California was reopened.

Federal judges in Baltimore and San Jose must approve the settlement before it takes effect, a process that lawyers said should be completed this summer.

Once approved, the customers will receive $46 million and their lawyers will share another $8.7 million. Any money left over will be donated to the United Negro College Fund and to other nonprofit organizations dedicated to furthering civil rights.

The case should not have a big effect on Flagstar's bottom line. Denny's had revenues of $1.53 billion in 1993, and the parent company, Flagstar, owns more than 500 Hardee's franchises, as well as as the El Pollo Loco and Quincy's Family Steakhouse chains.

In over-the-counter trading, the stock of Flagstar closed today at $9.50, down 37.5 cents in light trading.

Last July, Denny's reached an agreement with the N.A.A.C.P. to spend $1 billion in jobs and contracts for minorities over seven years. The company now has no franchises owned by a black, although an executive said 28 applications are "in the final stages of the review process."

Photo: The parent of Denny's restaurants, Flagstar Companies, has agreed to pay $54 million to settle racial-discrimination suits filed by blacks. Tom Pfister, front left, a Flagstar lawyer, spoke at a news conference yesterday in Washington, where he was joined by Eric Montgomery, front center, another Flagstar lawyer, and Jerome J. Richardson, right, the company's chairman and chief executive. (Paul Hosefros/The New York Times) (pg. A18)

Copyright 2010The New York Times Company

6

VIDEO: United Breaks Guitars

by SnakesInTheTower in

jw
friends

there is a video that went viral and hit #7 on time magazine's top viral videos of 2009. as of this post, it had hit 8.1 million plus views since it was posted july 6, 2009.. it is a country music style song parody of united airlines treatment of his expensive taylor guitar.

he has since done the other 2 videos in the trilogy.

i don't usually like country music, but i liked ths.. this little incident cost united $180 million dollars in the value of its stock in 4 days.... http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/chris_ayres/article6722407.ece i have not checked the veracity of that particular claim, but if true...damn.. united breaks guitars (posted 7/6/2009 -- 8.1 millions views as of 3/18/2010).

SnakesInTheTower

There is a video that went viral and hit #7 on Time Magazine's Top Viral Videos of 2009. As of this post, it had hit 8.1 million plus views since it was posted July 6, 2009.

It is a country music style song parody of United Airlines treatment of his expensive Taylor Guitar. He has since done the other 2 videos in the trilogy. I don't usually like country music, but I liked ths.

This little incident cost United $180 MILLION DOLLARS in the value of its stock in 4 DAYS.... http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/chris_ayres/article6722407.ece I have not checked the veracity of that particular claim, but if true...damn.

United Breaks Guitars (Posted 7/6/2009 -- 8.1 millions views as of 3/18/2010)

United Breaks Guitars - Part 2 (Video posted 8/17/2009 -- 943,000 plus views as of today)

United Breaks Guitars - Part 3 (Video posted 3/1/2010 -- 67,806 views in just 18 days.)

Good for a laugh today.

Snakes (Rich )

6

Caprica

by Yizuman in

anyone watch that show?.

it starts back to the beginning as to how the cylon race was created, enslaved, rebelled and then eventual war.. http://www.syfy.com/caprica/.

yiz.

SnakesInTheTower

I watched the first couple of episodes.... got bored with it. The original Battlestar: Galactica was hokey but good.

I love Science Fiction, used to read it all the time..not so much time for that now.

And what the hell is this Scy Fy crap? Some marketing idiot messes about to justify their job I guess.

Snakes (Rich )

25

Neighbor taking advantage rant!

by restrangled in

jw
friends

sorry, this is a real rant, and i'm beside my self.. here in florida we have had a horrible winter.

now we are spending hours cutting trimming and pulling up dead plants to be picked up by the garbage company on a certain day of the week.

no problem.. this week my neighbors placed their bags 10 feet into the edge of my lawn to be picked up.

SnakesInTheTower

re...hate to hear of your neighbor difficulties....

I had a problem neighbor for a few months..over a year ago...wow...I wrote about it here. I did put up the fence and most of the problems ended. The problems really ended when the punk got involved in a shootout in the street from his house. Felon in possession. Shortly after, his girlfriend moved out.

Stayed empty for a bit. Then new renters (but still same a$$wipe landlord) moved in....turned out I worked with the father years ago...so except for a short interval with a problem with their dog..its been peaceful...so peaceful I thought they had moved...apparently he is on the road a lot for work...so it is quiet all the time now..dog and son left...

So instead of having to move out, I have stayed... voluntarily paying slightly more in rent...it was only right with my fiancee moving in...and no increase in rent in 13 years....... and the neighborhood is mostly quiet again..with the fence up, I no longer have problems (and ironically, about a 10 x 100 foot section of yard I dont have to mow anymore...it was not mine...)

hope it gets better...

Snakes (Rich )

31

Whatever happened to the poster named V?

by SnakesInTheTower in

jw
friends

i get a 403 message for the watchtower comments web site... the youtube channel hasnt been visited by v in 8 months and it was april when v was here last?.

anyone know what ever became of v?

thanks for the update....pm me if you would rather not post on the public board.... snakes (rich .

SnakesInTheTower

bump

63

Judical Committee- FUBAR decisions

by Think About It in

jw
friends

i had posted this as part of another thread, but thought it might make a good separate thread.

here's a jc fubar decision that i experienced.. i dealt with a brother who threatened to kill his family, my family, and then himself.

this guys' secret sins were becoming manifest and as an elder some things came to my attention, including wife abuse and according to her, allegations of possible misconduct with the young daughter.

SnakesInTheTower

I was the victim of a FUBAR judicial committee. I have told parts of this story here in the past. As a MS in 1991, I was accused of lying by two married regular pioneers sisters, who were apparently jealous of my friendship (not romantic) with a single pioneer sister in our KH.

I was accused of lying about my field service time (one of them had been nosing around in my personal calendar that I had left on the front seat of my car -- apparently they did not think it possible that I had put in 120 hours one month because they hadn't seen me out that much.),

I was also accused of lying about having a crush on a single pioneer sister in our congo (who was very close friends with the secretary of the congo...a little too close for the tastes of many as he was/is married). Most of the regular pioneers, with the exception of two elderly pioneers who would have backed me, were invited into a supposed "investigation only" meeting. Little did they or I know that it was really a judicial committee. It was not a committee of 3 elders. It was the entire BOE of I think 6 or 8 at the time.

The elder who was chairing it (the secretary), went down the line one by one and asked each pioneer sister "do you think Brother Bailey lies, yes or no?" If any answer other than "yes" or "no" came out, they were interrupted and asked "yes or no." The consensus was all yes. (Years later, the single sister told me she was pressured by the elders to say yes though she didnt believe it....shortly after that meeting, she moved away. I hear she is still single, still a pioneer. Poor girl. 50 with no future.)

I was also accused about, of all things, claiming to have lied about coming up with the idea to have my cinnamon roll heated with butter at the local donut shop and telling everyone that it was my idea. WTF? How petty. It was the donut shop owner who suggested it. I just passed the idea along. But that was how petty things got, the BOE wanted the troublemaker MS gone and they were developing a portfolio of lies for me.

After we were all dismissed, they told me to stay while they went downstairs to talk. They then, after awhile, came back and told me I was being judicially reproved privately, being removed as MS and pioneer, and "restricted" from public prayer for a single month. Just enough to keep me off the pioneer list for a year and MS for 3.

So that's my personal FUBAR JC story... and here is a big fat middle finger to KS, the chair of that committee...now an elder in another nearby KH.

palmtree:

I know of an elder who kept files on his computer of everyone in the congregation. A young brother moved in with them temporarily, was using the computer and found them.

Not on a computer to my knowledge, but the former secretary of the Carlyle, Illinois congregation had a manila file folder in the elder's cabinet on every single publisher in the congregation... including me. Kind of a CIA kind of thing he had going on.... mundane and extremely personal notes with lots of his opinions on the perceived spirituality of each person. Completely unauthorized even by WT cult standards.

Only he and the PO (the only 2 elders before my arrival from MTS) had keys. When I requested a key, I was told only they could have it. I went to the CO... CO made them give me a key. I found the files and I cleaned house. When I was done, there were 3 large black Hefty trash bags (the kind you find on construction sites) full of files that had to be burned. Oh did I start a fire fight with those actions! I made sure that select gossipers in the congo were made aware of the existence of the files so that they would be careful. That guy was hated by all in the congregation. Though his wife claimed the opposite and said she was the "Mother" of the congo. AFter the arrival of us three MTS grads, two of us who were elders, the MS appointed not long after I left, the secretary left not long after me.

That congo had so many "investigations" going on into people's personal lives. It was why myself and 2 other MTS grads were sent in. I left after 4 months. I couldn't take the paranoia and the 150 mile round trip from my house to the territory several times a week. Don't know if the congo still exists or not, or if it does if the other two MTS guys from my class are still there.

Even around Bethel, the congos are fouled up. I was at WT Farm as a temp and heard more abusive language in the locker room before lunch than in some biker bars. I know of congos in the Bronx, Harlem, and Brooklyn that have very screwed up elder bodies. Be interesting to see how many of those congos will continue to exist once WT exits the city.

So all of these stories are very believable. I have stories of JC's I "served" on. Served is a poor word choice. As chairman on a couple of them, I had to shut down lines of questioning that were very unnecessary and very intrusive, especially about sexual misconduct. The elders involved in those JCs hated when I was chair. It didnt happen often that I was, but our cases were better handled because I tried to give as much dignity to a very undignified arrangement as I could. It was those JCs that told me something was very f**ked up about the whole arrangement.

Snakes (Rich )

31

Whatever happened to the poster named V?

by SnakesInTheTower in

jw
friends

i get a 403 message for the watchtower comments web site... the youtube channel hasnt been visited by v in 8 months and it was april when v was here last?.

anyone know what ever became of v?

thanks for the update....pm me if you would rather not post on the public board.... snakes (rich .

SnakesInTheTower

CAN IT BE TRUE???? IS V REALLY BACK?!!!!

there are two posts on his blog on Randy's Freeminds.org site dated February and March 2010

http://www.freeminds.org/blogs/watchtower-comments/index.php

Come in and say hi to us V......

Snakes (Rich )

34

In most relationships the woman is better looking than the man

by Quillsky in

jw
friends

this leaves ugly women as the most unlikely to find partners.. please discuss..

SnakesInTheTower

my fiancee is better looking than me for certain. when i first asked her out (nearly a year ago..wow), I thought she might be mid-30s. Turns out...she is in her mid 40s.... she looks great...she doesn't think so... but lately she is starting to see herself in a different light. now she says she is "all right." She works out and is trying, despite health problems, to get down to her goal weight. I keep telling her she looks great NOW.

I am damn lucky that at (then) 42, I found my soul mate. I will be glad when we can finally get married. Meanwhile, neither of us is going anywhere...and she appreciates me for me... not because of being some JW-position-titled "brother." LOL

Snakes (Rich )