Posts by Band on the Run

300

ALERT: NEW LAWSUIT settlement - $13 MILLION

by Watchtower-Free in

http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/135m-awarded-to-bible-teacher-gonzalo-campos-alleged-abuse-victim-jose-lopez-281031832.html.

(published thursday, oct 30, 2014).

thursday, oct 30, 2014 updated at 11:58 pm pdt.

Band on the Run

You can't even get decent press coverage. It is a small sum compared to Roman Catholic awards. The press is going to report stories that affect people on a national basis. Maybe they will cover it when reporting sexual abuse elsewhere. JWs are not a major religion. I believe the NYT may print it if it is held up on appeal. People can write letters to the editor and mention the award. Newspapers that did not print it originally may print the article. I am not being a wet blanket. There are major issues in the legal system. A $13 million award means the insurance companies will raise their rates for everyone.Society pays for these massive damage awards. The WTBTS may be self-insured, however. The issue of whether there should be quick resolution of such disputes with lower compensation through arbitration and mediation remains. Many states have doctor shortages b/c of the trend towards large awards. I was glad to have my personal injury claim arbitrated. The decision was final and the check arrived promptly. Courts are congested. This is not news to any informed person.

Of course, not showing up for discovery should be sanctioned by any court. First Amendment rights could have been asserted. It makes wonder what they are hiding. Perhaps there is nothing. Reports of secret pedophile databases here have never been confirmed. I also have never read an elder coming forth publicly with what WT Legal told him to do.

38

Name the GOOD things and NICE things about Jehovah's Witnesses

by stuckinarut2 in

ok, so in the interests of balance....(as it has rightly been pointed out that i am getting more bitter toward the org), can we think of any positive or nice things about jehovah's witnesses?.

just throwing this topic out there....... .

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Band on the Run

I thought about this response since last night. There is no trait or quality that JWs tend to have that worldly do not have in more abundance. We are human. The Witnesses helped my grandfather become literate. There is not enough room for all the bad/maladaptive traits. They are generally law abiding but not showing up for a deposition is not law abiding. Theocratic warfare is not law abiding. They pay taxes as individuals. Of course, the IRS could lock them up for a long time, otherwise. They are deferential which is a good quality in extremely limited circumstances. Witnesses have no special qualities. Any good could have been accomplished by either secular or mainstream religion influence.

They ignited my passion for civil rights but a decent history teacher would also have sparked my interest. The Witnesses made me value my basic human right to be free from them. Paul McCartney termed it a god-given right, freedom. Freedom. My appreciation for most things worldly was nurtured by the ignorance of local Witnesses. I take education seriously. It is not fun being a member of a minority religion.

14

CANDACE CONTI - REMOVED FROM JW.ORG?

by The Searcher in

has the org's comment on the candace conti case been removed from jw.org?

if not, can someone give me a clue how to retrieve it please?

thanks for any help..

Band on the Run

Simon says to ignore me. I researched clery privilege quickly when the Conti trial decision has reached. First, privilege of all sorts is being re-evaluated by the courts and legal scholars. Modern discovery procedures stress no surprises. Juries should hear facts. The lawyer-client privilege is the strongest. In order for clery privilege to be asserted, there must be a confession. It does not apply to routine spiritual discussion or chat about the weather or other matters. The penitent must confess directly to one clergy member.One need not be Roman Catholic to assert the privilege. The privilege existed at common law to bolster Roman Catholic confessions. I always heard that the Witnesses were fine b/c they had no confession. The maybe not so penitent admitted misconduct to the elders, plural. More than one clergy person presence breaks privilege. Some state mandatory child sex abuse reporting statutes might also destroy privilege. Society is not so pious. The clear trend is to limit privilege.

Generally, clergy communications are confidential. There are times when confidential communications may be revealed with no bad consequences. Therapists, for example, must promptly report any threats/plans to harm another person. If you sue someone, the confidential communication may be offered against you, if relevant to the proceeding.

25

NEWS : New developments in the London Bethel relocation story

by raymond frantz in

london bethel relocation the story so farthere are new developments in the relocation of the london bethel development .

a landowner has agreed unconditionally to sell her rundown car breakers yard to jehovahs witnesses for their new uk headquarters, it emerged this week.. the international bible students association (ibsa) paid a deposit, agreed a final price and swapped contracts with charmaine small this month for temple farm in ship road, west hanningfield.. ms small has promised the ibsa the charity used by the religious sect to distribute its literature that dozens of car dealers will vacate the 50-acre farm over the next few months.. speaking to the chronicle, stephen morris, of the ibsa branch relocation department, said...(read full article here ).

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Band on the Run

The Roman Catholic Church tried to declare bankruptcy in some American city to avoid payment of pedophile law suit settlements. I believe lay people within the church and the press stopped them. Perhaps it was a suggestion that leaked out. I understand why they would leave cities --the compound mentality. Perhaps they don't need physical structures and transportation with the shift to Internet sources. Living in a compound can turn a weird religion even crazier and more brazen.

15

Rick Simons vs Irwin Zalkin

by Calebs Airplane in

they're both doing an excellent job... but which lawyer do you believe is currently best equipped to expose the watchtower's child sex abuse scandals and cover-ups?.

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Band on the Run

It is the opinion of one person well trained. There are many law review articles on this subject. General newspapers, such as the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, also regularly report this information. Law professors teach it to this day. Kill your intellectual class. Not a wise move. The general public can figure this out. Valid claims should be tried. Tried, not defaulted. Where were these personal injury lawyers when the law was adverse to them? I don't recall them being around until the law changed. If one can truly state that the WT's liability has changed.

300

ALERT: NEW LAWSUIT settlement - $13 MILLION

by Watchtower-Free in

http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/135m-awarded-to-bible-teacher-gonzalo-campos-alleged-abuse-victim-jose-lopez-281031832.html.

(published thursday, oct 30, 2014).

thursday, oct 30, 2014 updated at 11:58 pm pdt.

Band on the Run

The obvious is obvious. Lawsuits for child sexual abuse have been legal for quite some time. There probably was no incentive to sue an underemployed elder. Many lawyers are dubious about the merits of these suits. They raise fundamental issues about notice and the strength of evidence after so many years. I would permit, however, if the jury is properly instructed.

I don't believe this is much news outside JW and exJW circles. There is very important and "hot" news with Ebola, the situation in all of the Middle East, and control of the United States Senate at stake. If this were August, this story might have more coverage. I do not know if this is a large verdict compared towhat more respectable religions have paid out. Legal news sources probably covered it. Perhaps a local paper will pick it up as a human interest story.

14

This should be an interesting book to read

by Doug Mason in

i have not yet read this book, but it should be interesting:.

"the better angels of our nature: why violence has declined", steven pinker.. the publicity blurb states:.

"believe it or not, today we may be living in the most peaceful moment in our species' existence.

Band on the Run

I see massive warning signs. The world was safer with power shared between the United States and the Soviet Union. I trusted the Soviets more than such states as Iran. Global warming will bring much stress. Technology can be used for great good and utter destruction of the planet. Western democracies, especially the United States, are not educating their children to face complex problems. Good school districts graduate college bound students who cannot even guess what century our war of independence or the Civil War occurred. The elite schools graduate ever brighter and well-prepared students but there is a chasm below that level. I also fear the emphasis on college as only preparation for jobs rather than as preparation for an enlighted citizenry.

Elites may be leaders but we have a wide franchise. Policy towards peaceful and rational solutions cannot be imposed on masses. I cannot agree with this author's conclusion. Also, in a truly global war bad consequences are not limited to borders. Past violence during the Middle Ages was primarily local. Bioterrorism stayed on the battlefield or an adjoining city. It is a better to be a realist than surrender to bliss.

26

Service meeting week of November 3rd! How to indoctrinate children

by stuckinarut2 in

oh yep...here we go..... this weeks service meeting has a part designed to show how children should be indoctrinated and manipulated into going "out in service".

the part first asks for the disturbingly corny cartoon clip to be played on the big screen at the halls: "lets go out in service!".

(if you haven't watched it yet, please go to jw.org and watch it....you simply won't beleive it until you see it!).

Band on the Run

I hated going door to door. Selling WTs and Awake mags was only slightly easier. I wanted family approval. People were not nice. If a ten year old child came to my door and asked me if I believed in eternal life, I would be polite to the child and then give the parents a piece of my mind. Next, I would have them booted off private property. Altho family members lived in violent and disastrous housing projects, service work exposed me to sights and smells a child should not know.

7

Intersesting Halloween for the GTTM family

by goingthruthemotions in

well as i have stated before, both our boys do mma fighting and training as do i. this past weekend we had a good practice.

went to get a bite to eat and our way home our younger son said...hey, lets go look at the trick or treaters.

both me and my wife said ok. .

Band on the Run

None of the local Witnesses could afford to live in a working class neighborhood so I celebrated Halloween as a child. It was fun! A sheet makes a convenient ghost. My father, a former Bethelite, drove us to richer neighborhoods for more and better candy. He did eat my baby sister's candy one year, though. Those Bethelite traits don't disappear. Older children did not do Haloween in those years. My junior high and high school drew Witness kids. Still, we were tracked by academic progress. They were always in the lowest grades but they could see me in the hallways between classes, the restrooms, and on the stage during assemblies (orchestra). I will never forget being screamed at that Jesus of all deities would deny me eternal life for playing in an orchestral concert rather than attending another boring meeting with functional illiterates. The college track members were present so I had the guts to laugh in her face. Jesus wants me to play music.

It was a process for me. The first few worldly things were very scary. I lived and prospered. No demon afflictions resulted. It was nice to not have to deal with the JW mindset. My life has been responsible. I never did drugs during the sixties and seventies despite being immersed in the counter-culture. I had responsibility. It was not my JW training. In fact, many Christian churches hold Haloween parties. The New York Times reports it has surpassed or will soon surpass Christmas.. It is fun. The holidays are fun.

15

Rick Simons vs Irwin Zalkin

by Calebs Airplane in

they're both doing an excellent job... but which lawyer do you believe is currently best equipped to expose the watchtower's child sex abuse scandals and cover-ups?.

.

Band on the Run

Asking people untrained in law is not the best way to go. We don't know what their problems were or if they will ultimately succeed at an appellate level. We don't know the amounts of their contingency fees or what the costs will be. There are countless lawyers who can do these cases successfully. They are available in every state They are not doing theoretical physics. Different styles work before juries. Simons laid the groundwork, as far as I now. I try not to get involved. If they succeed at the appellate level, other lawyers will come forward. Trial judge and jury awards may be overturned by higher courts. The United States Supreme Court has ruled that punitive damage awards must bear some relationship to damage awards. The plaintiffs' bar was upset by that ruling. Let us compare when there is finality. There is a long road to go.

Neither lawyer would even consider these cases were it not for the ground work done by Roman Catholic and other churches' sexual abuse victims. The public attitude has changed. The Bethel Legal Department had a long time to prepare a defense for these cases. These awards are relatively small compared to the Roman Catholic ones. In contrast to the WT, however, priests in parishes have much deeper ties to the archdiocese and the Vatican. According to press reports, one of the main reasons for Pope Benedict's retirement is that he administered the office dealing poorly with pedophile priests. The cardinals wanted another man as leader. No group exists within Jehovah's Witnesses that can weild such an impact on WT policy. This judgment will probably make them feel vindicated. Also, the WTBTS can afford it. They can't afford to let the public know the truth about the "Truth."