Excellent post, drew.
nvrgnbk
JoinedPosts by nvrgnbk
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Apocalypticism + Populism = Jehovah's Witnesses
by drew sagan inapocalypticism + populism = jehovah's witnesses .
in thinking broadly about the various aspects that make jehovah's witnesses who they are and the world-view they prescribe to, i have come to the conclusion that there are no two things that make jehovah's witnesses who they are more than their blending of social populism with apocalyptic speculation.
jws see the world as being run completely by elite institutions.
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Do you believe God is guiding you throughout life?
by JH ini believe in god, but i don't think he is guiding me or making life easier for me.. some see god in every aspect of their lives, and if there is hardship in life, god is behind this so that you can get stronger through this bad experience.. and when things go well, it's god's hand at work..
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nvrgnbk
Yes, I most certainly do.
He's gently guided me from JWism to Christianity to agnosticism and finally to atheism.
Thanks, God.
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Attacks on U.S. Forces Highest Since Surge Began
by nvrgnbk injust proves we are winning!lol!iraqi offensive attacks on u.s. forces soared at end of marchgovernment assault on shiite militias drew americans in by sudarsan raghavanwashington post foreign service .
wednesday, april 2, 2008; page a12 .
baghdad, april 1 -- attacks against u.s. troops and iraqi security forces soared across baghdad in the last week of march to the highest levels since the deployment of additional u.s. troops here reached full strength last june, according to u.s. military data and analysis.
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nvrgnbk
Just proves we are winning!
LOL!
IRAQI OFFENSIVE
Attacks on U.S. Forces Soared at End of March
Government Assault On Shiite Militias Drew Americans In
By Sudarsan Raghavan Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, April 2, 2008; Page A12BAGHDAD, April 1 -- Attacks against U.S. troops and Iraqi security forces soared across Baghdad in the last week of March to the highest levels since the deployment of additional U.S. troops here reached full strength last June, according to U.S. military data and analysis.
The sharp spike in attacks, in response to an ill-prepared Iraqi government offensive in the southern city of Basra last week, underscores the fragility of the U.S. military's hard-won security gains in Iraq and how easily those gains can be erased.
"Last week was clearly a bad week and shows the tenuous nature of security, which is something we've been stressing for some time now," Navy Rear Adm. Gregory J. Smith, the U.S. military's chief spokesman, wrote in an e-mail response to questions. "Security in Iraq is not irreversible, and any number of actors can affect the level of violence if and when they choose to."
Over the week that began March 25, when the offensive began in Basra, there were 728 attacks against U.S. coalition forces, Iraqi security forces and civilians across Iraq, according to U.S. military data obtained by The Washington Post. Of these, 430 -- or almost 60 percent of the attacks -- occurred in Baghdad, the major focus of last year's buildup of 30,000 additional U.S. troops. The forces have begun to withdraw, and the rest are to be gone by the end of July.
In comparison, the average weekly attack rate in Baghdad last June was 326 attacks, according to U.S. military statistics.
By Monday, a day after Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr ordered his Mahdi Army militiamen to lay down their arms, the attacks quickly subsided close to levels seen before the government offensive.
On March 23 and 24, the two days before the offensive began, there were, respectively, 42 and 38 attacks across Iraq. On each of those days, there were only 14 attacks in Baghdad. Over the next few days, attacks in the capital spiked to as many as six times that number.
The rapid containment of the fighting suggests that the "surge" of U.S. forces is but one factor in bringing down violence in Iraq and that in Shiite areas, a cease-fire imposed by Sadr on his militiamen last August may be more significant.
The reduction in violence across Iraq on Monday, which appeared to continue Tuesday, also highlights the power Sadr wields on Iraq's streets and the control he exerts over much of his militia, despite assertions by U.S. military commanders that the cleric's movement has been weakened by the buildup.
The figures and analysis offer more evidence of how swiftly U.S. forces were drawn into a power struggle unfolding between Sadr and rival Shiite groups that lead Iraq's government, mainly Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's Dawa party and the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, led by Abdul Aziz-Hakim.
The data, said U.S. military officials who provided the information on condition of anonymity because it was not authorized for release, are a preliminary but thorough accounting that could be readjusted slightly.
The data include attacks against U.S. troops, Iraqi security forces and civilians. U.S. forces bore the brunt of those attacks last week, suggesting that they were taking the lead combat role in many areas or were perceived by Mahdi Army fighters to be taking the lead. The data square with on-the-ground reports that American soldiers were involved in battles and were being targeted with roadside bombs, rocket-propelled grenades and other weapons in many Shiite enclaves of Baghdad.
During one 24-hour period -- beginning at 9 p.m. Friday -- 77 attacks were mounted in Baghdad. They included 12 roadside bombs detonated and six found before they exploded. There were six mortar attacks, six rocket-propelled grenade attacks and six rocket attacks. There were also 21 attacks involving multiple weapons, most by Shiite fighters targeting patrols in the neighborhoods of New Baghdad and Karrada.
In interviews, some Mahdi Army commanders and fighters said they saw the Basra offensive as an opportunity to attack U.S. troops in Baghdad after nearly a year of standing down under Sadr's orders.
"It was a big happiness," said Khadim al-Saadi, a Mahdi Army leader in Sadr City, where many of the fiercest battles against U.S. troops occurred. "The main reason for the degradation of our lives is the presence of the occupiers on our land."
A senior U.S. military official, using an acronym for the Mahdi Army, said, "This one-week spike in violence and the subsequent decrease, it has everything to do with Sadr and his control over mainstream JAM." He said Iran also played a role in brokering the deal between Sadr and the Iraqi government that led to Sadr's statement ordering his men to lay down their arms.
In Sadr City on Tuesday, conditions remained tense. A curfew was still in effect there, though it had been lifted over most of the rest of Baghdad, and U.S. forces continued to patrol the vast Shiite district.
Mahdi Army commanders said fighters had withdrawn from the streets. But Saadi warned that if U.S. troops remained, the situation could quickly change. "For every action, there's a reaction," he said.
In Basra, life continued to return to the streets. Traffic moved freely. Government offices began to reopen, although schools and universities remained closed.
Still, police braced for more violence. "There is a condition of unstableness and suspense that a new attack might by implemented by the JAM militants," a police official said on condition of anonymity.
"I'm not optimistic about this calmness," said Usama Abdul Rahman, 35, a government employee. "It is the silence that precedes the storm."
Special correspondents Aahad Ali in Basra and K.I. Ibrahim, Naseer Nouri and Dalya Hassan in Baghdad contributed to this report.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/01/AR2008040103165.html?hpid=artslot
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What's wrong with the WTBS in a nushell.
by JeffT ini realized the other morning that it was twenty years ago that i started my exit.
at the spring 1988 circuit assembly (i think it was in february or march) they absolutely hammered on the point that higher ed was a waste of time.
armageddon was going to happen any day now and there was no point in preparing for life in system that was about to end.
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nvrgnbk
Its teachings are not in harmony with reality.
There is no God, and the bible is a book full of errors and contradictions.
So the wactower society could be likened to a craftsman trying to work without tools.
That pretty much nails it, jbass.
Great quote from Sagan, daniel-p.
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Congratulate IP- SEC and A&W on UPCOMING WEDDING
by AWAKE&WATCHING inthat's right ...he's off the market and he likes older women!!!.
please forgive my darlin' ippy for his earlier ohio thread.
he was going to announce this himself but i gave him hell because i wasn't ready.
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nvrgnbk
If this is real, all I can say is WOW!
If this is real, congratulations to you both.
If it's a joke, it's a cute one.
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Are there any gods who actually don't HATE WOMEN
by berylblue inand base their laws on the premise that we're inherently stupid, weak and evil?.
look at islam, for starters.
(i can't believe a woman would willingly join this sorry excuse for misogynistic laws.
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nvrgnbk
There's always Lilith.
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Congratulate IP- SEC and A&W on UPCOMING WEDDING
by AWAKE&WATCHING inthat's right ...he's off the market and he likes older women!!!.
please forgive my darlin' ippy for his earlier ohio thread.
he was going to announce this himself but i gave him hell because i wasn't ready.
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nvrgnbk
Careful there, IP_SEC.
I heard she's broken quite a few hearts.
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Food Shortage
by startingover ini don't believe there's an armageddon on the horizon, nor do i believe there's a god who has anything to do with this, but i really do think we are headed for hard times like we have never seen.
.
http://www.theamericannightmare.org:80/food_shortage__aak.html.
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nvrgnbk
In the spirit of your topic, startingover...
High Rice Cost Creating Fears of Asia Unrest
By KEITH BRADSHER Published: March 29, 2008HANOI — Rising prices and a growing fear of scarcity have prompted some of the world’s largest rice producers to announce drastic limits on the amount of rice they export.
The price of rice, a staple in the diets of nearly half the world’s population, has almost doubled on international markets in the last three months. That has pinched the budgets of millions of poor Asians and raised fears of civil unrest.
Shortages and high prices for all kinds of food have caused tensions and even violence around the world in recent months. Since January, thousands of troops have been deployed in Pakistan to guard trucks carrying wheat and flour. Protests have erupted in Indonesia over soybean shortages, and China has put price controls on cooking oil, grain, meat, milk and eggs.
Food riots have erupted in recent months in Guinea, Mauritania, Mexico, Morocco, Senegal, Uzbekistan and Yemen. But the moves by rice-exporting nations over the last two days — meant to ensure scarce supplies will meet domestic needs — drove prices on the world market even higher this week.
This has fed the insecurity of rice-importing nations, already increasingly desperate to secure supplies. On Tuesday, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo of the Philippines, afraid of increasing rice scarcity, ordered government investigators to track down hoarders.
The increase in rice prices internationally promised to put more pressure on prices in the United States, which imports more than 30 percent of the rice Americans consume, according to the United States Rice Producers Association. The price that consumers pay for rice has already increased more than 8 percent over the last year.
But the United States is fortunate in also exporting rice; poor countries ranging from Sengal in West Africa to the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific are heavily dependent on imports and now face higher bills.
Vietnam’s government announced here on Friday that it would cut rice exports by nearly a quarter this year. The government hoped that keeping more rice inside the country would hold down prices.
The same day, India effectively banned the export of all but the most expensive grades of rice. Egypt announced on Thursday that it would impose a six-month ban on rice exports, starting April 1, and on Wednesday, Cambodia banned all rice exports except by government agencies.
Governments across Asia and in many rice-consuming countries in Africa have long worried that a steep increase in prices could set off an angry reaction among low-income city dwellers.
“There is definitely the potential for unrest, particularly as the people most affected are the urban poor and they’re concentrated, so it’s easier for them to organize than it would be for farmers, for example, to organize to protest lower prices,” said Nicholas W. Minot, a senior research fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute in Washington.
Several factors are contributing to the steep rice in prices. Rising affluence in India and China has increased demand. At the same time, drought and other bad weather have reduced output in Australia and elsewhere. Many rice farmers are turning to more lucrative cash crops, reducing the amount of land devoted to the grain. And urbanization and industrialization have cut into the land devoted to rice cultivation.
In Vietnam, an obscure plant virus has caused annual output to start leveling off; it had increased significantly each year until the last three years.
Until the last few years, the potential for rapid price swings was damped by the tendency of many governments to hold very large rice stockpiles to ensure food security, said Sushil Pandey, an agricultural economist at the International Rice Research Institute in Manila.
But those stockpiles were costly to maintain. So governments have been drawing them down as world rice consumption has outstripped production for most of the last decade.
The relatively small quantities traded across borders, combined with small stockpiles, now mean that prices can move quickly in response to supply disruptions.
At the same time, prices set in international rice trading now have an increasingly important effect on prices within countries. This has been particularly true in an age of Internet and mobile phone communications when even farmers in remote areas can learn about distant prices and decide whether their own buyers are giving them a fair price.
Even before governments imposed restrictions this week, trading companies in exporting nations had become increasingly reluctant to sign contracts for future delivery as they wait to see how high prices will go.
“The market has pretty much ground to a halt for the past few weeks,” said Ben Savage, the managing director for rice at Jackson Son & Company, a commodities trading firm in London. Soaring prices are already causing hardship across the developing world.
In a crumbling covered market in an old neighborhood of Hanoi, Cao Minh Huong, a ceramics saleswoman, said that rising food prices, especially for rice, were forcing her to change her diet. “I’m spending the same amount on food but I’m getting less,” she said.
Together with rising prices for other foods, like wheat, soybeans, pork and cooking oil, higher rice prices are also contributing to inflation in many developing countries. Retail rice prices have already jumped by as much as 60 percent in recent months in Vietnam, trailing increases in wholesale prices but leading a broader acceleration in inflation. Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung of Vietnam announced Wednesday that the government’s top priority now was fighting inflation. Overall consumer prices are more than 19 percent higher this month than last March. . The inflation rate has nearly tripled in the last year.
Rice is unusual among major agricultural commodities in that most of the major rice-consuming countries are self-sufficient or nearly so. Only 7 percent of the world’s rice production is traded across international borders each year, according to figures from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome.
Nguyen Van Bo, the president of the Vietnam Academy of Agricultural Sciences, which oversees government farm research institutes, said in an interview that the government expected rice production to rise further by 2010 despite the rapid expansion of residential housing and factories into what had been prime rice-growing land. But the government needs to train farmers to alternate corn with rice to defeat rice pests like the virus, he said.
Vietnam, Egypt and India all limited rice exports last year, but the limits were much less drastic and were imposed much later in the year, after much more rice had been shipped.
The government of Thailand, the world’s largest rice exporter followed by Vietnam, has not yet limited exports. But a national debate has started in Thailand over whether to do so ,and Thai exporters have already practically stopped signing delivery contracts, Mr. Savage said.
Even before Friday’s export restrictions by Vietnam and India, bids for commonly traded grades of Thai medium-grain rice had doubled this year to $735 a metric ton. Vietnamese medium-grain rice had almost doubled to more than $700 a ton, with most of the increase coming in the last four weeks. Bids jumped as much as $50 a ton on Friday.
Governments have been reluctant to tell farmers to sell their rice at low fixed prices, for fear that farmers would hoard rice or not bother to grow as much as they could. On Friday, China, which is virtually self-sufficient in rice, raised the minimum prices for rice and wheat that it guarantees to farmers.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/29/business/worldbusiness/29rice.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin
Edited: Sorry for the duplication, sammieswife.
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Who has lost faith?
by logic&reason ini am curious about who (after leaving) went on to other religions vs. lost faith completely.
once i started questioning the wt society, i began to question everything.
as jw's we are taught from childhood up that other religions are false - so it seems easy, after elliminating the last one, to be rid of religion altogether.. .
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nvrgnbk
Once more in defense of us atheists, an atheist is someone that dosn't actively believe in any god, not someone that believes they can absolutely prove there is no god.
A-theos.
No-God.
Burn
Actually, Burn, it has been suggested that the early Christians were the first group to be referred to as atheists, for their rejection of the Roman pantheon of deities.
It's only more recently (16th/17th century) that the term has come to refer to one that is more apatheistic in philosophy.
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