Chaserious

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Posts by Chaserious

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  41

  Menlo Park Legal Advisor Tells All

  by Juan Viejo2 in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  someone sent me a link to the anoninsurrection youtube page.

  i found eleven videos documenting an interview with the legal advisor for the former menlo park kingdom hall elders.

  you can find them here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=plszmu_qv0dgtco2wl5bnjdx12ny2_cmoo .. i've also published the entire set of eleven along with my comments on ex-jw.com.

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  Chaserious

  Is anyone really supposed to take a series of videos at face value with the word "Testmoney" in the title, and featuring a guy in sunglasses and a pimp hat? I read the previous comments and watched videos 8-10. Clearly the biggest problem the elders had was that they did not have a real lawyer, and possibly relied on this guy for advice. The clerks forged the judge's signature on a ruling? Do you have any idea how severe the consequences are for doing something like this, and how seriously any judge would take this kind of thing? If you get on the WTS shit-list you are going to get trumped-up speeding and parking tickets? WTS has the Canadian Border Patrol in their pocket? Running people off the road to intimidate them like Ralph Macchio in Karate Kid? This is a joke. Why haven't they launched rocket propelled grenades at Candace Conti's lawyer's office?

  I am extremely doubtful that this man has experience even as a paralegal, or is in any way qualified to provide legal assistance of any sort. Cobb was not prepared in the least to respond to hearsay objections or get documents admitted. He thought he could question the WTS attorney after he was cross-examined. I have coached high school kids in mock trial who could have done a far better job with evidentiary issues. The Supreme Court case that Cobb cited in his closing argument on the Corporations Code issue is entirely irrelevant to this case. Not to take anything away from Cobb and the other plaintiffs; they just obviously had no one knowledgeable helping.

  Juan, have you been able to confirm that the person appearing in this video was actually the same person giving legal advice to the Menlo Park elders?

  I think that what the WT did was underhanded, but in California as long as a religion is hierarchical it will prove very difficult to take property away from the parent organization. In other states the result could be differnt, but it seems like it would have been difficult to get around the California Supreme Court rule from In re Episcipal Church Cases in 2009. In my mind there is no question the WTS is hierarchical. I certainly haven't followed this case as carefully as you, Juan. Do you know of a legal argument that has been advanced as to why the elder plaintiffs should have won, that you could link to? One thing I am interested in knowing is whether the WTS had declared a trust prior to the lawsuit. I imagine this is standard practice after the fiasco they had in Texas a while back, but I don't think the court ever reached that point, or at least not in the documents I read on your site. I tend to think this whole episode was valuable, not because the elders should have won, but because it raised awareness about the extent to which the WTS steamrolls internal dissent and any inclination not to do exactly as they say.
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  Computers have successfully replaced college professors

  by moshe in

  1. social
  2. current

  http://techcrunch.com/2013/01/15/how-californias-new-online-education-pilot-will-end-college-as-we-know-it/.

  -while faculty worry about the quality of online courses, the truth is that our education system, primarily designed to test rote memorization, is built to scale and be independent of teacher interaction.

  a review of research by the department of education in 2009 found that "students who took all or part of their class online performed better, on average, than those taking the same course through traditional face-to-face instruction.".

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  Chaserious

  given what's happening at some of the Ivy League institutions (Stanford, NYU, UCLA, and others... who are expanding their online curriculums AND their attendance to include outside students)

  This kind of thing is definitely out of the comfort zone for elite schools, yet they're doing it. I think we will never see top-tier schools do a complete paradigm shift, though. These schools emphasize the college experience, not just the classroom experience. Most elite schools will not allow you to attend unless you live in the dorms for your first 1-2 years. But there is definitely change in the works. Harvard Law is even offering its first (free) online course:

  http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNLJ.jsp?id=1202582652536&Harvard_Law_offering_first_free_online_course&slreturn=20130018191440

  BTW - Stanford, NYU and UCLA, while all excellent schools (and at least in Stanford's case an academic peer of the Ivies), are not Ivy League Institutions.
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  17

  Guns, Politics, and Liberty

  by Infowarrior in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i was raised as a witness in canada all my life.

  the majority of my time attending watchtower meetings i was essentially never exposed to how spiritual beliefs relate to political belifes, even in terms with jw watchtower doctrine.

  i grew up understanding that some witnesses had diffrent ideas on things, but was made to feel that the watchtower established many key beliefs that are required for witnesses in good standing.

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  Chaserious

  I have come to realize that we are facing an international agenda of evil, formentend by the bankers and their technocrat politicans

  Oh please.. I had to stop reading here. Build a bunker if you are so worried.
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  95

  Any suggestions on handling financial abuse of a senior by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society?

  by Balaamsass in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  does anyone here have any suggestions on handling financial abuse of a senior by the watchtower bible and tract society?

  mom gave a lot of money to the watchtower bible and tract society over her lifetime- (6 figures).

  after she ran low on funds she made a 5 figure "conditional loan" to wtb&ts.

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  Chaserious

  There have been some articles written on the use of "voluntary impoverishment" to get state aid, examining the legality of various techniques used to get on government assistance. In the typical case the money goes to relatives though. If you feel like doing some dense reading about the topic in general, here are a couple that might be kind of relevant:

  John A. Miller, Voluntary Impoverishment to Obtain Government Benefits, 13 Cornell J.L. & Pub. Pol'y 81, 92 (2003),

  Estate Planning: A Race to the Poorhouse: Should Guardians Have a Duty to Impoverish Their Wards for Asset Protection Purposes Thereby Preserving Assets for Heirs? 34 W. New Eng. L. Rev. 251 (2012)
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  57

  Watchtower softens position on Jehovah' Witnesses and blood transfusions? Canadian National Post Story.

  by Balaamsass in

  1. watchtower
  2. medical

  without fanfare, jehovahs witnesses quietly soften position on blood transfusionstom blackwell, national post staff | dec 20, 2012 9:59 pm et.

  more from national post staff.

  calgary herald/fileslawrence hughes broke with the witnesses, and the rest of his own family, when it tried to prevent his teenage daughter, bethany, who died in 2002, from receiving a blood transfusion while being treated for cancer.twittergoogle+linkedinemailcommentsmoretumblrpinterestredditdiggfarkitstumbleuponfor years, the jehovahs witnesses fiercely held belief that blood transfusions are contrary to gods will led to emotional and very public disputes, hospitals clashing with parents over whether to infuse sick children.. that long history of messy legal confrontations appears to be vanishing, however, amid changing approaches to the issue on both sides, health-care officials say.. the churchs ban on accepting blood still stands, but some major pediatric hospitals have begun officially acknowledging the parents unorthodox beliefs, while many jehovahs witnesses are signing letters recognizing that doctors may sometimes feel obliged to transfuse, they say.. as institutions show more respect toward parents faith and try harder not to use blood, witnesses often seem eager to avoid involving child-welfare authorities to facilitate transfusions, and more accepting that canadian case law is firmly on the doctors side, some hospital officials say.. they get it that were going to transfuse where its medically necessary.

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  Chaserious

  I am also not so convinced that these are "legally useless documents." In my opinion, one should always assume that documents drafted in legal terms have some import. I know nothing about Canadian tort law, but I think that in the United States, were a similar document used, while it would indeed be useless to show consent, it could be proof of notice.

  I think that if the JW parent decided to bring a civil suit later for wrongfully transfusing the child, this document would be admissible in that matter to show that the parent was on notice that a transfusion could be given, and potentially used to argue that a burden shifting had taken place. In other words, since the parent knew (was on notice) that the hospital would transfuse if it thought the procedure was legally justified, the burden would then be on the parent after receiving such notice to run to court and get her own court order if the parent thought it was not legally justified. I would suspect that having such proof of notice would make the hospital's legal team more comfortable with giving an unconsented transfusion.
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  4

  Letter of Understanding - LOU

  by dreamgolfer in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  dear friends,.

  after reading the wonderful article and comments on the lou with regards to blood for minor children.. it made me think that such a document and it's principle of writing would also have merit and be valid for use of and not limited to allowing - military service, acceptances of oaths and allegiance and other legal situations that have cost many previous jw's their lives.. i throw this out to all in terms of a discussion - what do you think?.

  thanks and happy new year!

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  Chaserious

  I am guessing the WTS would not be satisfied by such a document in other contexts. After all, it is only used with minors who can be forced by the state to get a transfusion in any event. Adult JWs as I understand it are still expected to die rather than accept prohibited blood procedures. So I would imagine that adult JWs would still be expected to take the consequences for refusing miltary service, oaths, etc.
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  57

  Watchtower softens position on Jehovah' Witnesses and blood transfusions? Canadian National Post Story.

  by Balaamsass in

  1. watchtower
  2. medical

  without fanfare, jehovahs witnesses quietly soften position on blood transfusionstom blackwell, national post staff | dec 20, 2012 9:59 pm et.

  more from national post staff.

  calgary herald/fileslawrence hughes broke with the witnesses, and the rest of his own family, when it tried to prevent his teenage daughter, bethany, who died in 2002, from receiving a blood transfusion while being treated for cancer.twittergoogle+linkedinemailcommentsmoretumblrpinterestredditdiggfarkitstumbleuponfor years, the jehovahs witnesses fiercely held belief that blood transfusions are contrary to gods will led to emotional and very public disputes, hospitals clashing with parents over whether to infuse sick children.. that long history of messy legal confrontations appears to be vanishing, however, amid changing approaches to the issue on both sides, health-care officials say.. the churchs ban on accepting blood still stands, but some major pediatric hospitals have begun officially acknowledging the parents unorthodox beliefs, while many jehovahs witnesses are signing letters recognizing that doctors may sometimes feel obliged to transfuse, they say.. as institutions show more respect toward parents faith and try harder not to use blood, witnesses often seem eager to avoid involving child-welfare authorities to facilitate transfusions, and more accepting that canadian case law is firmly on the doctors side, some hospital officials say.. they get it that were going to transfuse where its medically necessary.

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  Chaserious

  Parents don't "force" court orders; hospitals seek court orders.

  Of course parents force court orders; they force the hospital to seek them. The hospital does not need a court order for the 99.5% of children whose parents consent to lifesaving treatment by signing an authorization form. For the 0.5% or whatever small minority of parents will not consent, the hospital is "forced" to obtain a court order to provide the treatment. One cannot approach this pedantically, looking only through the narrow lens of sheer legal force. The world does not go around because everyone needs a court order to tell them what to do. Most of the time people acquiesce when they know they have no legal ground on which to stand on without "forcing" someone to run to the court to get an injunction or restraining order. If you owned a house and rented it out, and the tenant refused to move out when his lease was over, wouldn't it be fair to say that he "forced you" to get a court order to evict him?

  The LoU/Acknowledgement Statements are legally useless documents; therefore, there is no harm to the WTBTS if JWs sign these.

  Respectfully, I do not think this is the issue. The WTBTS cannot be legally "harmed" no matter the outcome. A corporation is not the one being transfused. This is a matter between the patient, the parents and the hospital. It has nothing to do with WTBTS legal rights, since they have none in these cases anyone. Watchtower doctrine has often been a matter of symbolism, and not legalism. They caused publishers in Malawi to die because of not carrying a political party card. This was a symbolic issue. I would be quite certain that in the 1980's, the HLC would have told publishers not to sign anything acknowledging blood might be given. It contains symbolism that could be equated with agreement, even if not legal consent. Just as the Malawi cards meant almost nothing practically (it was a one-party country) but might "give the idea that we compromise Christian principles", the LOU would have been viewed the same saw by a hard-line WTS regime.
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  74

  New video: Jehovah's Witnesses and Watchtower's secret child abuse letter

  by cedars in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  we have decided to let the world know what happened when our websites were shut down earlier this month by means of this new video..... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_9efi84qnc.

  huge thanks to nugget for lending us her gorgeous voice, and also to cantleave for his cameo role as the voice of the big bad watchtower!

  cedars.

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  Chaserious

  In the large picture I am a big fan of jwsurvey, but I think this video, while well-produced, overdramatizes the "WTS is going to all-out war against us" angle. I really doubt that the WTS actually viewed this as a "great victory." No offense, but I suspect that the entire WTS did not mobilize into action to orchestrate the removal of this one letter, as the video somewhat suggests. I imagine in actuality this kind of thing is rather routine, and does not require authorization from the top. They probably send out loads of takedown notices every week. This one just happened to result in web sites being shut down by somewhat random chance because the notice went into a spam folder.
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  74

  New video: Jehovah's Witnesses and Watchtower's secret child abuse letter

  by cedars in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  we have decided to let the world know what happened when our websites were shut down earlier this month by means of this new video..... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_9efi84qnc.

  huge thanks to nugget for lending us her gorgeous voice, and also to cantleave for his cameo role as the voice of the big bad watchtower!

  cedars.

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  Chaserious

  I read the letter and I see no notice of it being under copyright protection.

  You don't need to have a copyright symbol to have copyright protection. It was discussed in more detail in this thread:

  http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/jw/friends/244342/4/Several-Sites-Are-Down
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  57

  Watchtower softens position on Jehovah' Witnesses and blood transfusions? Canadian National Post Story.

  by Balaamsass in

  1. watchtower
  2. medical

  without fanfare, jehovahs witnesses quietly soften position on blood transfusionstom blackwell, national post staff | dec 20, 2012 9:59 pm et.

  more from national post staff.

  calgary herald/fileslawrence hughes broke with the witnesses, and the rest of his own family, when it tried to prevent his teenage daughter, bethany, who died in 2002, from receiving a blood transfusion while being treated for cancer.twittergoogle+linkedinemailcommentsmoretumblrpinterestredditdiggfarkitstumbleuponfor years, the jehovahs witnesses fiercely held belief that blood transfusions are contrary to gods will led to emotional and very public disputes, hospitals clashing with parents over whether to infuse sick children.. that long history of messy legal confrontations appears to be vanishing, however, amid changing approaches to the issue on both sides, health-care officials say.. the churchs ban on accepting blood still stands, but some major pediatric hospitals have begun officially acknowledging the parents unorthodox beliefs, while many jehovahs witnesses are signing letters recognizing that doctors may sometimes feel obliged to transfuse, they say.. as institutions show more respect toward parents faith and try harder not to use blood, witnesses often seem eager to avoid involving child-welfare authorities to facilitate transfusions, and more accepting that canadian case law is firmly on the doctors side, some hospital officials say.. they get it that were going to transfuse where its medically necessary.

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  Chaserious

  A JW could sign a LoU and subsequently still fight a blood transfusion claiming it against his or her religious mores and akin to rape because LoUs do not affect the legal rights of either the JW or the hospital.

  I still disagree with the claim that no change took place, even if it was not a recent change. It's not just about whether legal rights have been disclaimed or not. It's about what the HLCs are telling parents in conjunction with these forms. Everyone knows that the majority of parents will do what the HLC tells them, so that's a more important barometer of their official policy than whether legal rights are surrendered. The fact is that a couple of decades ago, it was commonplace for parents to force a court order, whereas now they will sign this letter and not pursue their legal rights, whether they formally waive them or not.