Posts by JeffT

59

Books that changed your life-

by new hope and happiness in

i am not much of a reader as i have two many distractions, but i fancy a challenging read, so please list any book that has changed your entire world view on everything.

i remember as a teenager buying at a yard sale, norman vincent peales " the power of positive thinking" and at the time that had a big impact on me.

but i am a little bit more in to " realistic positive thinking" now..

JeffT

"The Truth that Leads to Eternal Life" Note: not a positive change but a big one.

"Crisis of Conscience," "The Kingdom of the Cults" and "Jehovah of the Watchtower" both by Walter Martin, "The Four Major Cults" by Anthony Hoekema

(this batch undid the damage caused by my first listing)

"Principles of Accounting" Not an exciting read, but it started my career

"Alcoholics Anonymous"

My first college degree was in English with a history minor, the rest of my list would be too long to include much here. I need to mention The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, "1984" "Brave New World" "Lord of the Flies" and just about anything by Hemmingway and Faulkner, and if I get my sci-fi novel published, Robert Heinein, Larry Niven, and Jerry Pournelle.

17

Why is shunning NOT a violation of Nat'l and Int'l law?

by Zoos in

i was looking at the universal declaration of human rights posted at un.org and also the description of what constitutes a violation of religious freedom at uslegal.com .. .

according to the declaration of human rights:.

article 18.. everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.

JeffT

It goes both ways. Do you want the government to tell you you have to go to the DC and be with your family and friends because they have a right to associate with you?

9

My mother is in the hospital again

by JeffT in

jw
friends

she fell again and had to have surgery on her other hip.

this is the fourth trip to the er since last fall.

needless to say, i'm not having a good week.

JeffT

Mom broke her left hip about two months ago, ended up with a partial replacement. The other one went Saturday. This is all after another fall (down the stairs) in October. I almost went down the same stairs yesterday - stupidly trying to go up them without bothering to turn on the light. I thought it wouldn't be a problem since of been doing it for the last fifty years.

Falls are nothing to laugh about, I read that one half of all fatal falls occur from a height of less than four feet, because we all think its not dangerous. And if you take out a hip or something, no you can't get up.

9

My mother is in the hospital again

by JeffT in

jw
friends

she fell again and had to have surgery on her other hip.

this is the fourth trip to the er since last fall.

needless to say, i'm not having a good week.

JeffT

She fell again and had to have surgery on her other hip. This is the fourth trip to the ER since last fall. Needless to say, I'm not having a good week.

63

Being a JW Used to Be Fun :-)

by snowbird in

jw
friends

we found some people who were happy to welcome us into their homes, even offering us food and drink.. sometimes, they would flag us down and ask for the magazines, walk miles to the kh meetings, come to our defense if someone got ugly or rude.. now, jw's are either routinely ignored or outright vilified.. no one respects them anymore.. sad.. .

JeffT

When I first joined, I was associated with a small, close-knit congregation. Dinner parties of various sizes were common, and we had several congregation get-togethers a year. Everybody was friendly. I felt like I was becoming a member of a very caring group. That feeling faded when we moved, and later disappeared entirely. I've been out for a very long time, I think if the attitudes and life-style that seems to prevail now had been present then, I never would have joined the cult.

44

New Financial Arrangements

by Joe Grundy in

dear friends.

i never was a dub.

i am not a qualified lawyer or accountant.

JeffT

I wonder just how independent this auditor will be?

The AICPA has a very strict definition of "independent." Anybody with a financial or other significant interest in the subject of the audit is disqualified from conducting the audit. If caught, they'll loose their license. That penalty is enough to keep almost all CPA's on the straigth and narrow as far as that part goes. Since the Enron mess I believe they have also required that the audit firm cannot provide consulting services to the client.

44

New Financial Arrangements

by Joe Grundy in

dear friends.

i never was a dub.

i am not a qualified lawyer or accountant.

JeffT

Suppose the new donations are being made to a different Corporation than the old Corp that held the loans. I think the goal is to liquidate the old Corps that have risk in law suits. Send the BILLION$ out of the US where the trail lawyers can't get to it.

A successor corporation will, in all probability, still be liabable. The only way to get rid of the lawsuits would be to dissolve the WTBS and pay the bills. The courts don't like shell games to get rid of things like this.

44

New Financial Arrangements

by Joe Grundy in

dear friends.

i never was a dub.

i am not a qualified lawyer or accountant.

JeffT

What I've been trying to get my head around is the idea that they replaced the loans receivable with real estate owned. I THINK (but I'm not sure) that part of the current deal was to transfer ownership of the halls from the xyz congregation to the society itself. Let's say the land and building are worth $200,000 and they had a $100,000 loan. The WTBS writes off the receivable and the congregation writes off the debt. So far we're even. But as part of the deal, the local elders turned the hall over to the Society, which now has a 200,000 building where it used to have the loan. A net gain of $100,000.

I'm working with a non-profit right now, a school which is trying to raise money for a new building. I've learned that banks are leary of donations because they can go away. A pledge, especially one in writing, is much more favorable. The banks regard pledges as much more solid sources of income. In this case the pledge comes from the congregation, not its individual members.

I just had a bad feeling about this, has anybody seen the actual form by which pledges are transmitted up the food chain? I'd sure love to see one.

44

New Financial Arrangements

by Joe Grundy in

dear friends.

i never was a dub.

i am not a qualified lawyer or accountant.

JeffT

I'm an accountant. I've had major concerns about this from the get go. Unfortunately the lack of transparency in the Watchtower organization makes financial analysis impossible. Clearly this is a major money grab as both assets (the kingdom halls) and cash are now under the control of the WTBS, where they were not before. This could equal billions of dollars net gain on the Society's books.

Unfortunately, since the local elders seem to be voting to go along with it, its probably legal.

32

International conventions - Seattle

by Lynnie in

just found out from my jw mom that the congregations located in the suburbs north of seattle.

will be renting buses to shuttle people back and forth to the international convention at husky.

stadium.

JeffT

I live near Seattle. Husky stadium is in the city itself, and isn't easy to get to. The university mostly blocks one side, Lake Washington the other. That leaves three roads to the site itself. I wondered how they were going to get people in and out of the place.

edited to add, parking down there is also a mess.