botchtowersociety

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Posts by botchtowersociety

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  3

  Is your church to cool

  by JeffT in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i just read this, thought it was really good.. http://www.relevantmagazine.com/god/church/features/26050-is-your-church-too-cool.

  how a pursuit of relevance can undermine authentic community.. people sometimes assume that because im a progressive 30-year-old who enjoys mumford and sons and has no children, i must want a super-hip churchyou know, the kind thats called thrive or be, and which boasts an awesome worship experience, a fair-trade coffee bar, its own iphone app and a pastor who looks like a jonas brother.. while none of these features are inherently wrong (and can of course be used by good people to do good things), these days i find myself longing for a church with a cool factor of about 0. .

  i want a church that includes fussy kids, old liturgy, bad sound, weird congregants andbrace yourselfpainfully amateur special music now and then.. .

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  botchtowersociety
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  20

  Well, I lost my virginity

  by JeffT in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  ok, more accurately my amateur standing, but i made you look!.

  i have now been paid for two pieces of non fiction writing on business subjects, and i have a third in the works.. .

  no, it isn't lots of money, but i'm officially a free lance writer.

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  botchtowersociety

  Congrats, Jeff.
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  98

  Is it ethical to make rich pay more taxes?

  by Lore in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i'm having trouble getting behind the idea of making rich people pay more taxes just because they have more.. aside from the obvious: "i'm not rich so lets tax them instead of me.

  " the three reasons i hear most often are:.

  1: they may have "earned" their wealth but they don't deserve it!.

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  botchtowersociety

  Our tax system is broken.
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  88

  DEAR RICH FOLKS: Get Ready For A (Tax) Revolution...

  by darthfader in

  1. social
  2. current

  interesting point of view and graphs.

  is the us different today than it was in the 50's and 60's when tax rates were at their highest?

  a lot of people agree that raising taxes pulls money out of the economy and will hinder job creation.

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  botchtowersociety

  Looks like my last post drew crickets. Want to create jobs? Get rid of Obama next year, and put someone in his place that understands and supports the free market economy. When that happens, the jobs will start to come back.

  In IBD yesterday, the co-founder of Home Depot. His comments mirror those of the CEO of Wynn Resorts.

  IBD: What's the single biggest impediment to job growth today?

  Marcus: The U.S. government. Having built a small business into a big one, I can tell you that today the impediments that the government imposes are impossible to deal with. Home Depot would never have succeeded if we'd tried to start it today. Every day you see rules and regulations from a group of Washington bureaucrats who know nothing about running a business. And I mean every day. It's become stifling.

  If you're a small businessman, the only way to deal with it is to work harder, put in more hours, and let people go. When you consider that something like 70% of the American people work for small businesses, you are talking about a big economic impact.

  IBD: President Obama has promised to streamline and eliminate regulations. What's your take?

  Marcus: His speeches are wonderful. His output is absolutely, incredibly bad. As he speaks about cutting out regulations, they are now producing thousands of pages of new ones. With just ObamaCare by itself, you have a 2,000 page bill that's probably going end up being 150,000 pages of regulations.

  IBD: Washington has been consumed with debt talks. Is this the right focus now?

  Marcus: They are all tied together. If we don't lower spending and if we don't deal with paying down the debt, we are going to have to raise taxes. Even brain-dead economists understand that when you raise taxes, you cost jobs.

  IBD: If you could sit down with Obama and talk to him about job creation, what would you say?

  Marcus: I'm not sure Obama would understand anything that I'd say, because he's never really worked a day outside the political or legal area. He doesn't know how to make a payroll, he doesn't understand the problems businesses face. I would try to explain that the plight of the businessman is very reactive to Washington. As Washington piles on regulations and mandates, the impact is tremendous. I don't think he's a bad guy. I just think he has no knowledge of this.

  IBD: Why don't more businesses speak out?

  Marcus: They are frightened to death — frightened that they will have the IRS or SEC on them. In my 50 years in business, I have never seen executives of major companies who were more intimidated by an administration.

  IBD: What's your message to the business community?

  Marcus: It's time to stand up and fight. These people in Washington are out there making your life difficult, and many of you won't survive. Why aren't you doing something about it? The free enterprise system made this country what it is today, and we've got to keep it alive. We are on the edge of the abyss.

  At the Job Creators Alliance, we're trying to recruit people who are willing to step up and say: " I've had it. There's no one representing me. I want to be out there and fight."

  http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article/578920/201107201835/Marcus-Home-Truths-On-Jobs.aspx?src=HPLNews
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  98

  Is it ethical to make rich pay more taxes?

  by Lore in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i'm having trouble getting behind the idea of making rich people pay more taxes just because they have more.. aside from the obvious: "i'm not rich so lets tax them instead of me.

  " the three reasons i hear most often are:.

  1: they may have "earned" their wealth but they don't deserve it!.

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  botchtowersociety

  Yes. Even if they find tax shelters - oftentimes those shelters result in the unintended consequences (I'm sure) of - TA DA! Job creation!

  LOL. True. Oftentimes those jobs get created....offshore. But engaging in activity with no economic value other than lowering tax liabilities is probably not going to be a big net job creator when compared with investing in the economy.
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  66

  Florida Holding No Refusal DUI Checkpoints. If You Refuse They Stick A Needle...

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  in your arm by judge's order.

  (a judge will be there at the checkpoint) and of course, if you are legally drunk, you'll be arrested on the spot.. so this weekend in tampa, they'll be sticking needles in your arms if you refuse their demands.

  they say they'll be heavily advertising the area that they'll be at over the holiday..

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  botchtowersociety

  I read this post and had to tell my story about all the fine work the Florida State police make up for them selfs.

  I could tell you several stories but here is a recent one on out of control policing (I live in SW Florida):

  So I take my boy to karate classes 3x a week. While he is doing his classes, we parents watch and converse. BB loves karate.

  I spoke with one of the fathers last week. It turns out his young daughter fell down at home a few days prior and split her lip open badly and was bleeding all over the place. The scared girl was screaming. Time to run to the hospital. He jumps in his car with the girl, and speeds off to the hospital. Cops pull him over for speeding two blocks away from the hospital.

  So here is this father, blood all over his shirt, and a girl in the backseat bleeding from her face all over a rag and her clothes and crying. You'd think the cops would cut him a break, or at least follow him two freaking blocks to the hospital so he can get his hurt girl cared for and then handle the ticketing.

  No way, Jose.

  He had to sit for 30 minutes while a check was run and a ticket was written up. The girl got 8 stitches and the cop is an asshole. The family is hispanic and dark skinned at that. One southern "redneck" father that was there hearing the story along with me angrily says: "They wouldn't have done that if you were white."

  Florida's public servants?
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  98

  Is it ethical to make rich pay more taxes?

  by Lore in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i'm having trouble getting behind the idea of making rich people pay more taxes just because they have more.. aside from the obvious: "i'm not rich so lets tax them instead of me.

  " the three reasons i hear most often are:.

  1: they may have "earned" their wealth but they don't deserve it!.

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  botchtowersociety

  A member of society is entitled YES ENTITLED -

  both remedial and preventive medical care including mental health care.

  as much education as they can competently handle.

  safe and adequate nutrition. (beans,cabbage, biscuits and rice)

  transportation to and from work

  safe and healthy housing.

  Really? Who gets to pay for it by force? Am I not entitled to choose not to pay to resolve someone else's personal problems? Am I not entitled to retain the product of my own work? Is that right not stronger than your baseless claim to it?

  My eyes are wide open. I am entitled to nothing that must be demanded from another. I have the right to provide for myself and my family. It is my right to give them the bread that I have earned without someone else stealing it to feed themselves before it gets to the mouths of my children.

  That is my duty, and is not an entitlement.

  It is this entitlement attitude that is ruining Western Civilization. I ask for nothing but to be treated fairly, and that I not be impeded in my affairs so long as I do not infringe on the rights of another.
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  11

  A Message for All Those Still in the WT Organization

  by botchtowersociety in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  this tidbit of good advice was found on another jw forum.. a message for all those still in the wt organization.

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_w_szj6m-km.

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  botchtowersociety

  BTT. C'mon, I thought this was funny.
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  35

  Should there be restrictions on who can donate blood?

  by Snoozy in

  1. watchtower
  2. medical

  found this article on a "gay like" man that was refused and it got me to wondering..i really didn't know the rules!.

  http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/man-says-rejected-blood-bank-seeming-gay-151627659.html.

  an indiana man says a blood donation center rejected him as a donor because he appears to be gay--even though he isn't.. .

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  botchtowersociety

  I've tried, twice, and they won't allow me to donate. It is because I had cancer more than 15 years ago.
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  32

  The Coffee Party--We Aren't Going To Let The Extremists Run This Country

  by Justitia Themis in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  this video documents a meeting between coffee party leaders and students at wesleyan university on feb. 26, 2011. the meeting led to the incredibly successful "i have sex" video, which is transforming the national debate about ideologically driven "budget cuts" bein.

  .

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqw4f-eq9lm&feature=player_embedded.

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  botchtowersociety

  Perhaps that is the problem ---

  I think it might be. My brother's girlfriend is a poli sci major and the university indoctrination camps have made her a huge lib/prog. I've spent the past 6 months detoxifying her. Plus since the Obama economy has her unemployed, she is being mugged by reality. She is slowly starting to see the light.