roybatty

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Posts by roybatty

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  82

  Ten killed in US school shooting

  by Simon in

  1. social
  2. current

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  another tradgedy ... .

  http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4370617.stm.

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  roybatty

  movies, videogames, books and guns are not the culprit. the guilty party is an unstable little boy and the family that let him down.

  Then how do you explain the fact that here in the U.S. we have a murder rate on par with countries like Columbia, instead of places like the U.K or the Netherlands? I've never heard or read about some teenager going on a shooting rampage in in western europe. The last one I heard about was a few years back in Scotland where some adult male went beszerk and killed some little kids at a kindergarden class.

  In the past year I can list several shoots where multiple people were shot and killed.
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  82

  Ten killed in US school shooting

  by Simon in

  1. social
  2. current

  .

  another tradgedy ... .

  http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4370617.stm.

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  roybatty

  How do you explain Canada, where the gun ownership is higher per capitia then here in the States?

  Really ! ?

  My bad. I jumped before I looked. I don't have any numbers at my finger tips but I doubt that it's higher then in the U.S. But I'd say it's much higher then Japan or the U.K. while still having the same low murder by gun rate.

  However, I'm willing to bet that in British Columbia the ownership of guns is higher then in most parts of the U.S., however, I haven't read of any high school shootings in that part of the world.
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  82

  Ten killed in US school shooting

  by Simon in

  1. social
  2. current

  .

  another tradgedy ... .

  http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4370617.stm.

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  roybatty

  Glitter, there's plenty of people being killed WITHOUT the use of guns, should we ban knives, how about our 'fists' which have killed people, should we cut them off? Killing is killing no matter what we use!

  But one cannot deny that the murders per capitia of western european countries, where there is much tighter gun control, is much lower then here in the States. Again, I don't know if it's the tighter gun control or the social fabricate in those countries is differnt then here in the States? Would a troubled young man, like this individual, have had a better chance of getting the help he needed in a European country as compared to here? Could this shooting been avoided with better intervention? I noticed in the news preports that the police we contacted way back when he made his initial threats, was any other forms of help offered? What about when his father commited suicide?
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  82

  Ten killed in US school shooting

  by Simon in

  1. social
  2. current

  .

  another tradgedy ... .

  http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4370617.stm.

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  roybatty

  how many need to die before someone has the balls to stand up and question the 'right to bear arms'?

  How long before someone utters the age old 'Guns don't kill people, people do'???

  How do you explain Canada, where the gun ownership is higher per capitia then here in the States? I'm not saying that there shouldn't be tighter gun control, for example, why do hunters need semi-automatic assult rifles with a 20 mag clip for hunting deer? However, when are we as a society going to hold the peddlers filth responsible? We can't stop software makers from producing "gangsta" games but will the Wal-Marts of the world listen if we stop shopping at their stores because they sell and make a profit from that garbage? I find it so ironic that we as a people are so concerned that minors do not have access to cigarettes but don't think twice when our kids play video games where the player can shoot and kill police officers or watch movies that are waaaaay over the top. A few months ago my 14 year old was complaining to me for not letting him see some movie called "Saw" while all of his friends were allowed to see it. It's now out on video and out of curiousity I rented it this weekend. I started to watch it and had to turn it off after the first 5 minutes. I'm not kidding. No one can tell me that crap like that doesn't desensitize people, esp. teenage boys. While it probably won't turn a stable, young man into a rampaging monster it can push an unstable kid into one. What scares the hell out of me is thinking what society will be like when the 8, 9 and 10 year olds who are exposed to this constant bombardment of violence, become teeanagers.
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  50

  Is the society shooting themselves in the foot with the new DF policy?

  by truth_about_the_truth in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  let's face it, it seems like a simplification of the df process as many of you have already mentioned.. within the 6 million or so jw worldwide, there has to be a good number of ppl that are on the fringes of being dfed.

  in the past, it took time to technically df these ppl because of the no-shows at judicial hearings and appeals.

  also dfing a person can be delayed when no actual proof can be provided of the sin committed.

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  roybatty

  Relax, we've been through this before.

  Over the years, the WTS has changed wording of its announcements many times. The basic process has remained unchanged.

  For instance, they used to say, "so-and-so has been disfellowshipped for adultery."

  Then it was, "...disfellowshipped for conduct unbecoming a Christian."

  Then it was, " ...disfellowshipped." (period)

  Now, apparently, it's "no longer one of JWs."

  We've discussed this before and I don't understand why this is labeled as "new". When I was an elder and made my first announcement about someone being df'd, the PO in our congregation came up to me and specifically said to me "this is how you need to anounce it so&so is no longer a Jehovah's Witness." I believe before that, I always heard "so & so is no longer a member of the congregation." This was 10 years ago.
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  50

  Jessica Lundsford would still be alive....

  by avishai in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  if john couey had been executed or imprisoned for life the first time he was convicted

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  roybatty

  Great post CG. I totally agree with the GPS thing. Here in Illinois one can find out pretty easy is there is a registered sex offender in there neighborhood. The State police run the web site and it's easy to access. One thing that surprised me though, was that local police cannot notify neighbors that a sex offender has moved into their neighborhood. I was told by a police officer that if they do this and someone does something to this individual (i.e. beats them up or worse) the police could be found liable. Total bs.
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  33

  "Federal contracts should be performed by WHITE workers"

  by jst2laws in

  1. social
  2. current

  but the article quoted below makes an excellent point about american protectionism.

  i will quote the first three paragraphs of steven e. landsburg of the university of rochester.

  the article is "xenophobia and politics ?

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  roybatty

  :My suggestion would be to let the old non competative industries go to china while you focus the economy on profitable high tech, even just development. The problem with this is however that you 're short of qualified labour while unschooled labour is demanded less, you''ll have more unemployment in this segment of the labourmarket. Economic change isn't painless. Not painless indeed. A huge part of the problem that has we Americans in a tizzy, be that tizzy one of acknowledgement or active denial, is that we can't help but notice that all those countries with brown and yellow people and even white funny-speakers, while yes, they work hard and cheap.... it turns out that they aren't stupid either, they don't have inferior minds. So our "high tech advantage", is a house of cards.

  And every damn one of us knows it.

  The ONLY solution, the ONLY solution, is for America to play well with the other kids.

  No, the solution is that America demands that other kids play fairly. As the owner of a small manufacturing business and part of an industry that is loosing jobs every day to China I feel there is a lot the U.S. government can do. First of all I'd like to state that I'm not for "blindly" protecting American manufacturing jobs. However, the government can start by relieving the tax burden on small business. You think individual income tax is high, just try having your own business. It's nuts! This results in higher manufacturing costs. Secondly, it is unfair that the Chinese peg their currency to be below the US dollar. Something should be done about this. Third, large U.S. companies are receiving tax payers money to open plants in China. This is nuts. I guess what pisses me off the most is the handouts many businesses receive while small, family owned manufacturing companies get pissed on. I live in rural Illinois and the farmers in my area receive millions of dollars from the governments for not planting. lol. This is basically welfare. Why is this acceptable but helping U.S. manufacturing isn't?
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  13

  The Watchtower in Crisis: Why They Can't Raise Good Kids (pt 1)

  by metatron in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  raising good kids these days is a difficult task.

  jehovah's witnesses, however, are .

  encountering wide spread defeat in this critical mission, in large measure, because of the.

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  roybatty

  Appearances are far more important than honesty. Many JW youth have figured out that as long as they don't tell, they won't be asked.

  I believe it even goes a bit further. JW kids are raised to hide the truth, to basically lie. Why do I say this? Well, not only do young JW's see the adults in the congregation "bending the rules" (if not outright breaking them) but they see the Society leading a double life. They hear at the meetings and read between the lines that ALL worldly people are worshippers of the Satan and will die at the big A. However, when talking to worldly people to their face, it's all "no, no, no, God will decided who dies and who doesn't. We don't teach that." Or even with the whole disfellowshipping issue. They see how cruel it is and know the true story of how these ones are treated. But when in front of the media or non-JW, they see the Society "wag the dog" and spin it, trying to explain that it's really for that own person's good and that they basically can come back whenever they want.

  So they are surrounded by adults who aren't honest and in a religion that twists the truth, it's no wonder that the WT has a hard time raising good kids. How can they expect their kids to be honest, when they themselves aren't? And without honesty and the ability to trust, one can't even hope to raise a good kid.
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  54

  How would a JW handle this? 587 proved correct date for fall of Jerusalem

  by confusedjw in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  so i put it out to you who believe the wtbts is the agent used by god's channel on earth based on the belief that in 1919 (3 1/2 years after the gentile times ended in 1914, per pastor russell) they were appointed the fds.. what if it was proved that not 607, but 587 was the date jerusalem was destroyed?

  would that affect your faith?

  would it matter that the teaching of 1919 turned out to be false?

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  roybatty

  For anyone with half a brain, it's easy to review the evidence and conclude that Jerusalem fell in 587, not 607. One doesn't have to even read any "apostate" article on the subject. Heck, here in Chicago there is an awesome "out-of-the-way" Jewish museum here in Chicago http://www.spertus.edu/ that my kids and I visited. When I asked about the 587 vs. 607 "debate" they kind of gave me the "it's 587 duh" look.

  So who does one believe would know Jewish history better? A group of people who spend their entire life studying the history of the Jews or some minor religion here in the U.S. that doesn't even have one religious scholar???? Hmmmm....tough decision.
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  40

  Elders disfellowship my cousin

  by YellowLab in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  just a little background, my cousin is 38 and hasn't attended meetings for nearly 20 years.

  then, a week later, another elder and the circuit overseer came knocking for the same reason, so she decided to go to the thursday night meeting.

  then on sunday, she went for the talk, and was told she had an elder's meeting at 12:30 that afternoon.

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  roybatty

  In order for this to have happened, someone had to tell the Elder's what she was doing, and gave somekind of testimony. Based on this, they are to have two Brothers look into the matter and report back to the Body. If the report indicates that wrongdoing took place, a Judicial Committee is formed, and it goes from there.

  Exactly. Unless someone is still known as a JW or an active JW complains to the elders, it's usually a "live and let live" attitude when someone is gone that long.

  But, on the other hand, when a body of elders has plenty of free time or you get a zealous, young elder trying to make a name for himself, watchout!