Posts by freeman

2

Should everyone have an adsense account?

by badboy in

jw
friends

what your thought?.

freeman

Yes, free money is always good!

Freeman (who collectes adsense money from many of his websites)

10

Why do Religionists get so Defensive?

by LouBelle in

i'm not only talking about our former religion, but all faiths.

members will defend their faith, some very stubbornly no matter what evidence is shown to them, even if it's from the bible.

many a time they only want it to be seen their way and won't allow for another interpretation.. does it stem from the fact that they are scared about being wrong?

I don’t think it’s just Religionists that hold on to beliefs that fly in the face of reality, it’s other groups of people too. Some people just happen to be stubborn and unmovable. I believe the reason it appears religious people are so inclined is because it involves a very deep and personal part of their life.

I have found this same tendency in others too. I had a friend at work, Marty, who holds very liberal views to say the least. I was one of the few people that would even converse with him, largely because he was so over the top, he drove people away, but he had like most liberals a big heart. I understand his passion, I was raised very much a liberal too, and I followed the party line that republicans were the devil, only democrats were looking out for the little guy, you know the drill, I had that viewpoint for most of my life. However, he was just so over the top and constantly bashing President Bush at every opportunity. He went on and on about how dumb he was, how he didn’t read, and how he never completed his military service obligation etc.

A little background:

Some of my contacts worked directly in the White House under several administrations, so although I’m not in anyway an insider, I often do know things that most people don’t know, or a lot sooner then most people do. Sometimes it’s interesting and very often it’s amusing. Like the time Hillary Clinton was almost shot by the Secret Service. True story, she flung a heavy ashtray or a lamp (I forgot which) at Bill during an argument and was about to send another his way when two agents, guns drawn, rushed into their residence and ordered Hillary to drop the lamp or she would be dropped. That tidbit came directly from the father of one of the two agents’ involved, who by the way Hillary unsuccessfully tried to have fired.

One of my sources told me Bush read over 100 books in one year’s time, several of them about Lincoln, he has a fascination with this historical figure, not sure why. Bush was beat by Rove who read more books. It was some type of a bet between the two. Again this fact flies in the face of what people commonly say about Bush. Granted he mangles the King’s English at every opportunity, (embarrassing to say the least), but I think he is far from the bumbling idiot image he is often painted with, some of it self inflicted.

Sorry I’m rambling; let me get back to my point. Marty was fully invested in the popular notion that Bush somehow shirked his military obligation in the Guard and droned on and on about it, because he was part of the Guard, all his kids are military brats, and helicopter or jet jockeys like Bush was, and now they are at risk because of the War etc. that Bush started. Days and days of this, I could take no more, and I needed to end the Bush bash fest because it was just plain annoying after a while.

I don’t even remember from whom I obtained it, (maybe it was a public record). In any event, I slammed Marty with Bush’s military retirement credit record which shows he did in fact complete the necessary minimums and even went a little over what he was obligated to do.

I said to Marty, "Do you think they cooked the books in the retirement system too Marty? "

He saw it, I know he believed it, and he knew exactly what it meant, thus crushing part of his little hate-bush world view, or so I thought at the time.

Here is the final point: Marty is a man that holds at least one masters degree in a hard science, is in his late fifties so he is seasoned by life so to speak, he is not stupid. That said, I overheard him in yet another Bush bashing session with some other poor soul using the same tired arguments that I had so completely demolished just one week prior.

Lou, beliefs are hard things to overcome, religious beliefs are often the most deeply entrenched because they have such great meaning to the holder, and in large measure encompass the holder’s world view. Reason and logic do not necessarily apply in these cases. It’s not a matter of how stupid, foolish, or ignorant the person is, often they are not, rather it’s demonstrable of just how powerfully we humans cling to things that provide us with comfort, security, and order.

Freeman

7

I just had to do it

by freeman in

i mostly try to keep the peace here in my house and dont point out the jw bs as much as i used to.

but i have a hard time dealing with stupid, lies, or people that harm or put children at risk.

i found something that encompasses all three elements on my kitchen table.. .

freeman

Hi Hubert,

The statistics were from one of the staff writers at the Washington Post, Annys Shin. I did a little Google searching and I think this is the article that I was quoting:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/03/AR2009010302143.html

You probably won’t find the same exact figures at the BoLS because I believe Shin was using the early projected figures (released in early January) which are always revised when the hard data is finally tabulated. Nonetheless, it demonstrates how utterly foolish the JW stand on higher education is. The simple fact is that a better educated person has a significantly better chance of obtaining and retaining gainful employment. And the fact that that a college grad will generally make significantly more money during the course of their life, is more then enough reason to invest in your education.

Thank you Spike for you input. While I’ll agree with you that education from THE MASTER, is more valuable then a degree of Master’s, education via a Brooklyn based Publishing company is not an education from THE MASTER.

Remember these are the same folks that claimed there was no such thing as germs, that man could not reach beyond the envelope of air that surrounds the earth, that the curse which Noah pronounced upon Canaan was the origin of the Black race.

I have no problem putting my faith in THE MASTER above, however I do have great reservations in putting my faith in the Puppet Masters of Brooklyn ever again.

Freeman

7

I just had to do it

by freeman in

i mostly try to keep the peace here in my house and dont point out the jw bs as much as i used to.

but i have a hard time dealing with stupid, lies, or people that harm or put children at risk.

i found something that encompasses all three elements on my kitchen table.. .

freeman

I mostly try to keep the peace here in my house and don’t point out the JW BS as much as I used to. But I have a hard time dealing with stupid, lies, or people that harm or put children at risk. I found something that encompasses all three elements on my kitchen table.

My wife just happened to leave her notebook (or someone’s that she borrowed) around with something that caught my eye. I’m not sure if it was from a public talk, or the circus assembly, but my eyes focused on the subheading: Higher Education, with the words: “don’t be fooled by the MYTH” written underneath.

It was obviously a bash-higher-education-fest of some type, and that pushed my buttons.

I quickly wrote a little something up, printed it out and pointing to what was written on the open page. I handed it to her saying, honey you really have to stop challenging me on stuff like this, walked out of the room and went outside to play with the dog. When I returned the notebook and the paper I had written were gone. J

Now that I re-read my own words, I do see some technical errors, however errors and all it is a lot closer to fact then what was being espoused at the bash-higher-education-fest. I should have done the work and researched at the government BoLS to get the latest figures, mine are from January I believe, and the figure for the high schooled educated unemployed I cited is actually an aggregate figure which includes a smaller sample of other groups too, however it is statistically weighted something on the order of an 80% percent sample to the group I was talking about. That said, it’s pretty close.

The Value of Higher Education is no Myth!

Unemployment rate among workers with a college degree of BS/BA or higher reached 3.1 percent. Average unemployment rate of the high school educated person reached 6.7 percent, double that of a college educated persons, and the average rate of unemployment for people without even a high school diploma reached a new high of 10.5 percent.

Salary of a college educated person verses a high school graduate is nearly double, and almost triple that of a person without even a high school diploma. A college educated person will earn on average $500,000 to $1,000,000 more over their high school educated counterparts during the span of their working careers. One million dollars extra in income, double the ability to keep and maintain employment makes higher education a very rewarding investment.

Sometimes it’s fun to destroy the credibility of the faithless and decrepit slave-bugger.

Freeman

9

Video response that typifies JW Stereotype...

by Tuesday in

jw
friends

i received this video response to one of my questions today, it was the question about where the great crowd is located.

you might want to see the video but basically it talks about my questions offending "almighty jehovah", also talks about me being disfellowshipped (which i'm not).

i think it's a must-see for the absolute epitome of jw knee-jerk reaction to any sort of questioning of their beliefs... without further ado, here's the video.... .

freeman

Yes that is a pretty typical knee-jerk reaction. I notice she never did answer your question, which is also quite typical, she is incapable. I remember once many years ago I asked a question of a friend of mine (he was an elder), and his quick and somewhat shocking reply was to ask me if I was reading some apostate literature. Wow, I wasn’t, at the time, but that sure made me think that I better find out what these scary so-called apostates had to say.

Freeman

7

American Presidents = 4 assasinated and 10 attempted! Wow.

by Witness 007 in

assasinated = 1. abraham lincoln, 2. james garfield 3. william mc kinley and 4. john f kennedy.. attempted = 1. andrew jackson, {2 x pistols misfired} 2.theodore roosevelt, {wounded by bullet} 3. franklin roosevelt, {5 shots not hit} 4. harry truman, {gun battle with 2 gunmen} 5. gerald ford {two attempts by gun women on 4th and 18th of sept. 1975} 6. jimmy carter {planned but stopped on the day 2 gunmen} 7. richard nixon {by highjacked plane crash} 8. ronald reagan {wounded} 9. george h. w bush {by car bomb kuwait university} 10. bill clinton {plane crashed at the whitehouse and semi-automatic rifle fire at whitehouse fence}.

freeman

OOOPS Sorry my bad..I see you already had that one.

Freeman

7

American Presidents = 4 assasinated and 10 attempted! Wow.

by Witness 007 in

assasinated = 1. abraham lincoln, 2. james garfield 3. william mc kinley and 4. john f kennedy.. attempted = 1. andrew jackson, {2 x pistols misfired} 2.theodore roosevelt, {wounded by bullet} 3. franklin roosevelt, {5 shots not hit} 4. harry truman, {gun battle with 2 gunmen} 5. gerald ford {two attempts by gun women on 4th and 18th of sept. 1975} 6. jimmy carter {planned but stopped on the day 2 gunmen} 7. richard nixon {by highjacked plane crash} 8. ronald reagan {wounded} 9. george h. w bush {by car bomb kuwait university} 10. bill clinton {plane crashed at the whitehouse and semi-automatic rifle fire at whitehouse fence}.

freeman

I think you forgot one, GW Bush had a grenade thrown at him in 2005, I believe it was in former Soviet Georgia. For some strange reason, it did not get much coverage in the press as I recall.

Freeman

10

MagicJack anyone?

by AK - Jeff in

just bot one - tried calls both ways - seems to be excellent voice quality.

i had to go out of my local prefix and that will cause locals to dial long distance to reach me - but other than that i find few glitches on trial.. i was only paying 30 bucks a month for local/ld with my cable bundle - but if it works well over the next couple weeks i will drop the cable/phone.

looks like the same technology anyway.. only glitch so far is in switching from one windows user to another - since i installed on my account, i lose dial tone and all when i switch users.

freeman

I’ve got the Magic Jack installed on the Thin Client, works perfectly so far. The only annoyance I can see is that you need to include the area code for all outgoing calls, even if they are local to you. I purchased mine at Radio Shack, so I could also obtain the 1 yr replacement guarantee (about $5.00 US) just top keep it hassle free.

From what I can see so far, this is a keeper. If you are thinking of using a Thin Client (a striped down solid state PC about the size of a router, flash memory, no hard-drive, no moving parts or fans, and eats less then a nightlight worth of power), I suggest you obtain a Magic Jack ready unit off of eBay. Mine was not MJ ready so I had to do some configuring, and add some drivers. I suggest you pay a little more and get one that is MJ ready. For a MJ ready Thin Client install, all you need is a monitor, keyboard, and mouse for the initial install and registration, then you can disconnect all that and it’s a little box sits in the corner, stays on 24/7, and never gets hot. One more advantage of going with a Thin Client, and this is a big one, part of the reason the MJ is cheap is because they monitor your Web activities and sell that info to third parties (read advertisers). However, if you dedicate a machine to MJ use only, then they get no info from the spyware they install.

I hope that helps.

Freeman

10

MagicJack anyone?

by AK - Jeff in

just bot one - tried calls both ways - seems to be excellent voice quality.

i had to go out of my local prefix and that will cause locals to dial long distance to reach me - but other than that i find few glitches on trial.. i was only paying 30 bucks a month for local/ld with my cable bundle - but if it works well over the next couple weeks i will drop the cable/phone.

looks like the same technology anyway.. only glitch so far is in switching from one windows user to another - since i installed on my account, i lose dial tone and all when i switch users.

freeman

I’m just about to take the plunge myself. I have 4 numbers coming into my house now (all of them Vo/IP technology) and I’m thinking of replacing the one provided by the cable with the Magic Jack. I won’t be installing it on a PC but on what is called a Thin Client. Basically it has Flash memory instead of a hard drive, no fans, and the operating system is windows XP Imbedded. It is very small, only eats about 10 watts, low heat, no noise, and can stay on 24/7 running nothing but the MJ. You can purchase them (used) on e-bay quite inexpensively. You may wish to consider doing the same if you keep the MJ. We will see how it works out.

Freeman

25

Teaching lies.

by Anti-Christ in

when a person no longer cares about the past, they will accept the present without question.

the witnesses we talked with are always interchanging the gb/faithful and discreet slave for example, even if you point out the origins of each.

doesn't matter.

freeman

"Show me one publication were it says we should lie to our studies as a delaying technique?"
When I had questions about the blood issue, early on in my study with the witnesses, I was asked to wait until we came to that subject in the truth book, it would all make sense by then. That was many months latter, after I was softened up, after I did more trusting and less thinking, after my girlfriend was well hooked and knew I would loose a lot by backing out, after I had a lot invested. No it’s not written that I know of, but it sure as hell was practiced on me!
As far as lying, the Watchtower has publications written that promote deception and outright lying. The publication use to prepare for child custody cases, actively promotes deceiving the court to believe that the children have NORMAL goals and aspirations, Not Kingdom related goals that others would find weird.
Becoming a Journalist for example is suggested as a life goal to deceptively tell the court. You don’t become a journalist without a college degree, and everyone knows the societies stand on college. You are sworn to the truth, and the entire truth. This is deception in its most heinous form, using a child to deceive and press their own twisted agenda.
How about the society declaring that you only needed to “tell the truth to those that were deserving of it” . EVERYONE deserves the truth!
How about the lie I was told in my congregation, right from the platform. I was told that literature would now be distributed on a purely donation basis, no set price.
I was told the reason for the change was a “simplification” to make it easier, and also to show how we were so different then other religions who were motivated by profit making.
BUT THAT WAS A LIE!
The real reason for the change was that they (the Watchtower Society) got into bed with Jimmy Swaggart Ministries, worked with them, spent some of my donated money on lawyers to help Swaggart Ministers to fight a tax levy on the sales of religious publications, because they knew they could be next. Swaggart and the Watchtower Society lost the case. That is when the change to donations was made, and that is the reason! Here is the link: http://www.geocities.com/paulblizard/jimmy.html
Yes the Watchtower Lies!
Freeman