buckingham palace has confirmed that her majesty the queen mother passed away peacefully in her sleep this afternoon.. she was a wonderful lady.
we will miss you ma'am.. farewell.
T'is sad news indeed but she has had a good run of it!!!
I feel bad she had to live thrugh so much scandal. She was one of the last vestiges of real 'royal dignity.'
I don't see the Monarchy being much of anything (not even a figurehead) once Liz passes on. Old horse face, Charles isn't exactly "King" material that inspires great confidence.
Kismet - who is still trying to figure out why the Queen's image is still on our (Canada) coins?
arrested for going kingdumb hall!.
last night (3/21) the mountain view (ca) police arrested me.. this happened as i was attending the sunnyvale congregation service meeting.. i was dfd last july and was told by the elders the conditions for reinstatement were meeting attendance, repentance along with not speaking to anyone or anyone speaking to me (shunning at its finest).
(btw, i was dfd for apostasy).
If you are even allowed to stay in the courtroom during his plea, I would advise not saying a word unless asked by the prosecuting attorney.
Otherwise it is you that becomes the aggressor in the eyes of the court not the oversized elder dude.
If you disrupt the courtroom it adds credence to the fact that you would disrupt other public gatherings as well.
If you act rabid, they will treat you as rabid!
My advice and 2 cents. Take it or leave it.
Kismet
the latest:.
from: http://www.canoe.ca/cnewslaw0203/27_jehovah-sun.html.
lawyers block teen's testing.
Thought you might find this discussion of interest. It appears a couple of JW's are posting there supporting the 16 year old by condemning the father for lack of faith.
In this case I think our rallying cry is, it is not about freedom of choice, it is about freedom of INFORMED choice!
The discussion is found here:
. http://rapids.canoe.ca/cgi-bin/mb/render?product=5&board=1680
There are two threads on this topic. "Calgary JW Teen" and "Jw teen in Alberta" the latter being found on the second page of the message board.
Here was one response to the Jw:
Value of Blood transfusionBlood transfusions are being used to prevent the chemotherapy treatments from killing her. The chemicals used to kill off cancer destroys the blood especially the oxygen carrying blood cells.
So if the chemotherapy is successful then she can live a normal life. No leukemia does not have a 100% mortality rate.
As far as comments made about the father's lack of faith, is the view pretty good from the cheap seats? This guy obviously loves his daughter very much otherwise he wouldn't give a damn about her treatment or getting the best treatment for her.
To start condemning a man for making a decision based on the love of his child is pretty cheap IMO. Even the Apostles lacked faith, didn't Peter deny Jesus 3 times out of fear? Do you condemn him with the same vehemence?
This father did not deny God or Jesus. He simply chose to save his daughter rather than listen to a shifting policy of a man made religion. So this situation probably brought him closer to his God and only distanced himself from a controlling group of men.
badwillie wrote the following experience about an ignorant comment from a do:.
case in point:.
a friend received a full scholarship from a local college to study to become a veternarian.
Wow...all these names from the past... shudder
Jack Danley - an abrasive man to be sure. I saw him during some softer moments in dealing with people but he comes from da Judge's school of thought...beat em over the head until they get it!!. Many humourous memories of his voice squeaking away when he got excited on the platform... The best one was when he was talking about service and the need for publishers to be sure to put in some time each month "because of all bro (squeak)thers.. (squeaking again) irregularity is not a pretty thought!"
Scully I am racking my brain trying to think of who that trailer toting CO was. I know Pasternak served your area for a while... Wasn't Johnson the DO there too? Zenny is a good man. I know all his family very well too.
I got to know most of the DO's pretty ewll and not one of them ever really impressed me much.
Ernie Pandachuk was one of the good ones. As was George & Alice Krushelnicki (da Krusher).
ahh nothing funnier than people sometimes.
Kismet
i just stumbled onto this website whilst messing about on the internet and i've taken exception to quite a lot of what i've seen here.
incase you think i'm some irate jehovah's witness idiot who's been offended by the terrible blasphemy that he's read on here, i'm not.
i was raised a jw, but now i'm not one.. first of all, given the url, i thought this website was in some way affiliated with the jehovah's witness organization, whereas in reality it seems from the posts i've read that most people here are either former jehovah's witnesses or soon-to-be former jehovah's witnesses.
uhhhhh I agree with what Seven said... Damn!!!! no mincing words there!!!
I could not have said it any better!!!
the latest:.
from: http://www.canoe.ca/cnewslaw0203/27_jehovah-sun.html.
lawyers block teen's testing.
JT:
My man!!! You are so spot on!! Excellent points. It is sad to think if she had gotten sick 50 years ago blood would have been allowed. Yet despite years of medical progress, the Society has gone backwards in it's acceptance of this medical standard.
I hope they can get someone to see reason! and then charge the Society for all costs!!
Kismet
the latest:.
from: http://www.canoe.ca/cnewslaw0203/27_jehovah-sun.html.
lawyers block teen's testing.
A reply made to the legal forum at that site:
It is so sad to see families torn up over religion.
The father, worried about his daughter's life, went against the faith and allowed blood transfusions to be given to his daughter. The mother disagreed. The doctors wanting to provide safe medical treatment went ahead on the father's consent.
Since then their religion has now gotten involved resulting in long detailed expensive legal battles. Paid for by whom?? The Father. Here he is now all alone since all his family is now shunning him as well as all those that up to a month ago called themselves 'friends.'
What is he up against? A multimillion dollar printing company (The Watchtower Scoiety) and their free lawyers. Yeah they have an entire legal department at their head office that live, eat and sleep there for free ..kinda like lawyer munks. meanwhile this Father who is just interested in saing his daughter's life has had to sell everything in order to do battle with this Goliath religion. The very one that he has supported for many years.
One very interesting note is how the JW's are so selective in their application of Bible Principles. They are a patriarchal society. The man is head of the household (archaic as it may be that is their strict belief). But yet they trample all over that principle if it interferes with their blood principle. So two obscure passages i the Bible over rule all that is written in the bible about respecting one's parents, subjection to your parents, man being head of the house.
I am not saying I agree with that point of view but JW's do. Yet that belief is forgotten despite the fact that the father's decision in this matter will likely save the girl's life.
I say let the family alone and get the religious organization out of it. They don't really care about this girl. They are just interested in another teenage martyr to put on the front page of their Awake magazine as they have done in the past. I know I was at their head office for many years. I saw this happen far too many times.
If the religion is going to get involved, why don't they offer to care for all legal costs involved rather than trying to railroad and further devastate this family? If they are truly only interested in legal precedent and seeing justice, this shouldn't be a tough call for them.
I wish only the best for this girl and sincerely hope she gets better. Hopefully when she gets older is able to have a family, she may thank her Dad for not letting her life end so prematurely.
Bottomline? Get the religious organization out of it. let the family and the doctors make their decisions without big brother (the Watchtower Society) getting involved
well, it's almost 7pm in sydney australia and no doubt some congregations would be starting their memorials very soon, if not already.
due to the overcast conditions, i can't see the moon, but one of the special things about this time of the year is seeing the full moon, which reminds me of the specialness of the memorial ritual held for me as i was growing up.. this is the second time in my entire life that i will be absent from the memorial.
it was strange last year to be not attending for the first time ever, but this year i feel more comfortable about it.. i'm not sure why.
This is one of the most difficult times of the year for many.
Part of it is the guilt of not attending, part of it is the family and friends being disappointed and part is just missing the ritual.
It has been 4 years now since my last Memorial (sounds like an AA meeting) and it is much easier now.
If I can suggest something that helped me that first year. There was no way in hell anyone was going to get me into another church that year...still too raw after leaving. I remembered the Yearbook accounts of those countries under ban or those in concentration camps and how they celebrated the Memorial.
So I did the same. I read the Bible passages, I prayed...A LOT. I even had the glass of wine there (which quickly disappeared followed by one or two more). That took care of God and that was the most important aspect for me. I knew in my heart that leaving the Org was the right decision. So hold your own observance of the event. It may help.
Fortunately due to the manner in which I left I have not been under a lot of pressure form JW's to attend. I know how hard it has been for others that do get pressured from their family and have guilt trips laid on them. My only suggestion is to get out with other people tonight, or maybe go into chat here or somewhere else. We can get much support from our friends...one's that don't judge us as to where we are tonight.
Tho my beliefs now are far different than 4 years ago, doing the above got me through the first year. I wish all of you well and for some it is already over for another year for others just a few more hours and then the pressure will be off.
Good luck!
Kismet
im about to disassociate myself, and would like to know from those who have been disassociated , is there anything you would have done different before you disassociated yourself?
do you recommend writing a letter?
i really don't want to write a letter, cause that is what they want you to do, and they will never give you anything in writing.
The Society has this little loop hole all figured out. Even if you do not write a letter they can still announce that you have disassociated yourself by your conduct
SO a letter isn't really necessary if it becomes known that you are living a lifestyle that runs contrary to their beliefs.
The most frequent application of this is if you join another religion or move in with someone that is not your marriage partner.
The announcement would be the same. Brother xxxx has disassociated himself from the Christian Congregation.
They pretty much say...fine, you don't want to cooperate, we'll just do it ourselves. However this type of announcment can and has been prevented with a well worded letter from a lawyer.
Just more food for thought
Kismet
im about to disassociate myself, and would like to know from those who have been disassociated , is there anything you would have done different before you disassociated yourself?
do you recommend writing a letter?
i really don't want to write a letter, cause that is what they want you to do, and they will never give you anything in writing.
THis topic has been discussed a lot here and it all boils down to what do you want to accomplish by disassociating yourself.
Is it for closure? To vent? Some who have felt they 'should' disaasociate themselves realized that they were only doing it because the Society has told them they should.
I, for one, feel that they have no power over me or my spirituality. Why would I give them the satisfaction of me following their rules?
Another unfortunate truth is that most elders will not bother even reading the whole letter, especially if it comes in novel form. So if you are hoping to get some of the elders to think .. good luck!! LOL
So ask yourself, why do I want to disassociate myself? Much like this board, if you don't want to participate, simply stop posting. You don't have to make a formal request to be deactivated and make some public explanation. (This is not meant as a slam in any way)
So if you don't like the JW's or you disagree with them, simply stop playing by their rules (meetings, service, letters etc).
I know of some however that still need to write the letter wanting to have no formal or informal connection with that religious Organization.
There are a few samples of some very well written letters here. I will see if I can dig some of them up.
Kismet
